Suduire Corvus
by Migoto Nami
Summary: 'No.' Sebastian hissed quietly to himself, clutching desperately to his head. 'You won't get it out of me.' He spat, feeling his fangs elongate. A demon's true name was a powerful thing, and shouldn't be given to anyone. SebxCiel if you squint!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Black Butler belongs to Yana Toboso. If I owned Sebastian...let's just say he would never leave my bedroom. Ever. He'd be my little sex slave...ahem...yea.**

**Songs Used When Writing: Fox Hunter by Celtic Woman, Castle Center from Castlevania 64, Come on Feel the Noise by Quiet Riot and Farewell from Pocahontas**

* * *

He's changed. He seems more sinister, more...demonic. He absolutely refuses to go to church anymore. Whenever the subject of God or anything of the like is brought up, he just scoffs and turns away. Like he doesn't want to listen...like he doesn't believe anymore.

I didn't notice at first. He had always been a loner ever since the fire. Never counting on anyone but that promiscuous butler of his. I never reprimanded him for his antisocial behavior. As long as he fulfilled my daughter's expectations and acted like one of his status should, I felt that I had no right to judge. The boy was an earl after all, and I gave him some leeway to act as he wished.

...But then I did notice.

"_Ciel, do not speak of the Lord's name in vain."_

_The boy only scoffed at me, eyes filled with something dark that I could not place. He hid himself behind his documents to try and escape my wrath._

"_Boy, hasn't God taught you to respect your elders?''_

_He smirked at me, eyes finding that familiar dark look in them. He continued to go on about how I must be getting old to have missed such an easy target with my rifle._

"_Boy, let us be off for church. We will be late if you do not hasten."_

"_...Go without me."_

It slowly but surely became apparent to me that I had to do something. Ciel had no other family members who were around him long enough to notice or take action. So it had to be me.

I would replenish his faith in God.

* * *

The carriage jostled slightly with every step the horses took. Their pace was normal as the brown mares carted their heavy cargo towards the manor that was slowly peeking its way over the hill. Ciel Phantomhive watched trees and the like wizz past his carriage as he leaned his elbow on the windowsill, a bored expression on his face.

He was dressed in his finest looking clothes, like always. There was never a time where he wasn't dressed fancily, except when going to sleep. This day he had chosen to have Sebastian dress him in a red themed outfit, though, instead of his usual dark colors like green or blue. Today was a very special day, after all, and he had to have everything perfect, lest he be chewed out for it later.

Today was Elizabeth's fourteenth birthday, making her officially one year older than Ciel until he caught up to her with his own birthday in December. He had gotten her several different hair accessories, including ribbons and barrettes, three different and expensive dresses that were tailored by Nina especially for his fiance and something huge that had to be lifted onto their carriage by several adult males and tied down securely with ropes.

The large item had been a pain for him to get, but he knew that she would love it entirely, making all the labor worth it in the end. Cerulean colored eyes looked up to see the flap covering the large present whipping around in the wind. He stared at it for a few seconds more before returning his attention back to the landscape.

''You seem bored, young master.'' The Earl shifted his eyes to his butler, who was sitting perfectly straight against the cushions of the carriage, an amused expression on his face. ''Are you not looking forward to the day's events?''

Ciel scoffed and closed his eyes briefly before shifting his gaze outside again. ''I'm only going to this party because Elizabeth insisted, like she does every year.''

''So the young master does not enjoy his time with his fiance?'' Sebastian inquired, trade mark smirk on his face.

Ciel didn't answer him and the rest of the carriage ride was spent in silence until they arrived at Marquis Midford's mansion.

* * *

''CCCCCCIIIIIIIEEEEEEELLLLL!''

Said Earl braced himself for the inevitable flying hug that would befall him. He was surely not disappointed when Elizabeth rammed into him and started spinning him around like a rag doll. The young boy could have sworn he heard Sebastian chuckling quietly behind him and planned to slap the demon for his incompetence later.

''Elizabeth.'' Ciel greeted when he was finally set down, his world spinning for a split second before returning to normal. ''Happy Birthday.''

''Oh Ciel! Thank you!'' Lizzy giggled and hugged him gently, rubbing her cheek against his cutely. ''But I thought you were going to call me 'Lizzy' from now on?'' She asked, sounding disappointed when he just shrugged the comment off. The blonde sighed, giving up the argument for now, and looked down and finally noticed his state of dress as compared to her own.

''Ciel, what did I say about our outfits?'' The cute blonde's expression went from happy to deadly in less than a second as she glared at her fiance, who threw his hands up in a sign of surrender.

''We are supposed to match! I told you we have to match today!"

''What?'' The Earl asked, looking confused. ''Pink and red go together just fine. It's close enough.''

''No it's not!'' Lizzy pointed a finger in his face angrily and Ciel swore he saw devil horns appear on her head that would make Sebastian jealous.

''Well I don't know what you want me to do Elizabeth, but I am _not_ wearing pink.''

''Oh, you never do what I tell you to!'' Lizzy cried and dropped to her knees in the middle of her foyer, rubbing at her eyes as the tears fell. ''I only asked you to do one thing for my birthday, and you couldn't even do that much!''

Ciel gripped the bridge of his nose and sighed, feeling a head ache coming on. Sebastian, who had stayed silent til now found that this was the opportune moment to step in. ''Pardon me for intruding, but I thought something like this may happen.'' Elizabeth blinked when Sebastian presented her with a long thin present that was red and had a white bow on top. She looked at him, a questioning look in her eyes but Sebastian only smiled in response. ''From my master.''

Ciel frowned angrily. ''If you were anticipating that to happen, then why didn't you pick out something different for me?''

''I expected the young master to know his fiance's decorative taste and act accordingly, I apologize.'' Sebastian said, smug grin on his face as Ciel glared at him for the comment.

Lizzy opened the gift slowly, which surprised Ciel honestly, he having expected her to rip it open in a haste to see what was inside. ''Oh Ciel!'' She wailed and said boy found himself trapped in her arms again when she saw the beautiful red dress with white lilies and other flowers embroidered into the needlework. ''Thank you!''

''My my what is all that yelling?'' The three people in the foyer looked up to see the Marquis and Marchioness Midford walking down the stairs together, their son, Edward, in tow behind them. They had obviously heard the racket and came downstairs to investigate. Lizzy had been waiting patiently down in the foyer for any sign of Ciel and was the first to see them pull up the road. The others must not have known that they arrived yet because Lizzy answered the door instead of one of the servants.

''Mother, Father, look!'' Lizzy exclaimed, pretending not to notice her mother's disapproving look as she twirled around with the dress in her hands.

''Elizabeth! How many times have I told you to act like a proper lady?'' The Marchioness scolded her daughter, causing Lizzy to stop her twirling.

''Sorry, mother!'' Lizzy said, a sheepish look on her face.

''You're just lucky it's your birthday, or else I would not be so forgiving.'' Lady Francis said as her daughter politely nodded and excused herself to go change, wanting to match Ciel's outfit.

The room was silent for a few moments before Ciel stepped forward. ''Marquis, Marchioness and Edward. It has been a while.''

''It has.'' Lady Francis said, for once staying silent as her husband stared at Ciel intently for a few seconds before tackle-hugging the boy in much the same way his daughter had before him. Edward saw this and practically ran down the stairs, already berating Ciel for touching his sister so informally when he had not been around to supervise.

Francis looked at the scene with some distaste, otherwise remaining silent as her eyes focused on Ciel. She felt eyes staring at her and she looked over to her nephew's butler, their eyes locking for a moment as he smiled politely at her. She sneered at him before going down the stairs to reprimand her son and husband for their unruly behavior.

* * *

''Okay, should I look? …I don't wanna look! Oh but I wanna know!'' Lizzy said excitedly as Sebastian and a few other servants carried in her big present from Ciel. Of course, the demon could have carried it in by himself, but he had to keep up the appearance of being human.

The giant gift was set in front of the blonde as she giggled in excitement. The party had gone on into the night and everyone that had come up to celebrate already went home. The only guests at the house now were Ciel and Sebastian, who had been invited to stay the night because it had taken so long to get to Ciel's presents. Lizzy had wanted to save Ciel's for last to make them special, and had opened everyone else's gifts beforehand. This box was the last present to be opened of Ciel's, Lizzy having already opened all the dresses and hair accessories the Earl had given her. She loved every single one of them.

Ciel watched, amused, as he took a sip of his tea. Sebastian stood quietly behind him after he set the box down. The Marchioness watched him angrily, glaring at the dark bangs in his face. She would have combed both the Earl's and his butler's hair back, but Elizabeth insisted that she liked them better with their bangs. Her mother, not wanting to ruin her daughter's fun on her special day, begrudgingly left their hair alone.

''Just open it, honey.'' The Marquis, Alexis Leon Midford, told his daughter when Lizzy hovered around the gift, trying to decipher what was inside. She pulled at the ribbons holding the gift together and squealed very loudly when she opened the doors to the box and saw what lay inside.

It was a dollhouse that reached at least 6 inches above her head and was at least three times her width. The house was painted yellow and had columns on the front porch and white shutters as well. Sebastian had to come over and help her remove the gift from the box. When opened, there were two floors, not including the attic and basement. The accessories found within the house were hand stitched velvet and the bed frames, chairs and tables were made out of porcelain as well as other fine materials. It was a present fit for a young noble lady.

''This is the first Funtom doll-house ever to be created.'' Ciel explained, setting down his cup as Lizzy practically died from joy. ''An original. The others won't go on the market until early spring next year, and of course,'' he coughed, bringing a hand up to his mouth, smirking. ''They will be much smaller, with less detail shown to them.''

''Oh Ciel!'' Lizzy beamed, attacking Ciel with yet another hug. ''I love it!''

''Dayum.'' Marquis said, astonished by the mere size of the house. He yelped when he got smacked in the back of the head by his wife.

''Watch your language in front of the children.'' The Marchioness hissed as he rubbed his head in pain.

''Get off my sister!'' Edward proclaimed angrily from his spot on the couch next to his mother. He was about to get up and be his over-protective self, but Francis just pulled him back down.

''Give it a rest, Edward.''

''I'm glad you liked it.'' Ciel said, gently removing Lizzy from his person.

''It is getting late.'' Lady Francis announced, standing up from her spot on the couch. Her husband followed suit and stretched his arms over his head.

''Oh, do we really have to retire already?'' Lizzy whined, going over to her doll-house and clutching onto one of the pillars stubbornly.

''Yes, pumpkin. Everybody needs their beauty sleep. Myself included.'' Lizzy's father said as he took his cup of beer upstairs with him, saying goodnight to his family.

''Oh...'' Lizzy said, saddened.

''Edward. You help Ciel's butler take your sister's presents upstairs.'' Lady Francis proclaimed, taking her cup of wine up in her hands.

''Eh? Why me?'' Her son complained and his mother got an angry tick in her eye, causing him to gulp.

''Because you have such flabby arms for a boy. You need more training.''

Edward gulped, shying away from his mother and moving to help Sebastian take the big pile of gifts upstairs. A few other servants helped them move everything as well.

''Thanks, everyone.'' Lizzy said happily, going off to carry a few ribbons and bows up to her room as well. She gave Ciel a quick hug and a kiss to her mother before heading off upstairs with Sebastian and her brother, leaving Ciel and Francis alone, save for a few servants who were moving things.

Ciel moved to get up from his spot in a chair when Francis stopped him. ''That reminds me, Ciel. I have been meaning to talk to you about something. Follow me, so we may speak privately.''

The young Earl raised a brow but otherwise didn't question his aunt as he followed her upstairs to the drawing room. He figured that she would want to talk to him about his engagement with Lizzy, seeing as he had already had this conversation with both Edward and the Marquis: Be nice to Lizzy, love her, treat her well etc. So he thought nothing of it as she led him into the room and shut the door behind her.

Ciel saw a lone chair in the center of the room and also saw someone he hadn't been expecting. ''Aunt Francis, why is there is a priest here?'' He asked, confused.

''Just sit down, Ciel.'' Was all the response he got. Her voice sounded soft, which made him all the more confused. He had never heard her talk that way towards him. He looked up at his aunt, who for once wasn't looking at him with a condescending stare. It might have been nice, if they were in any other situation.

He had a particularly bad feeling about sitting down in this chair. But what good would it do to make a fuss and resist? Ciel briefly sighed and closed his only exposed eye, making his way over to the chair and taking a seat with one of his legs crossed over his thigh. "Fine."

"Good." His aunt reassured. "Now, I'm sorry I've pretty much had to trick you into coming up here, but you've left me no choice."

"What's this all about, Aunt Francis?" Ciel asked in a firm tone, curious.

His Aunt's brows furrowed on her porcelain forehead. "Don't you use that tone of voice with me, young man. I'm doing this for your own good..." She lifted her chin and paused to see if he would be foolish enough to interrupt and persist with questions. He did not, only sat in the chair looking at her with that single, burning, cerulean eye. "As of late, Ceil, I've noticed that you haven't been taking the word of God to heart. What's more, you haven't been attending mass or going to confession. And don't you dare think that I don't see the way you roll your eyes or scoff when ever the Lord's name, Jesus Christ, is uttered."

Ciel resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"I believe something evil has wormed it's way into your heart. Into your soul. I have to admit I was a bit distraught to think that my future son would be such a blasphemous heathen. But looking back upon your history, I knew that you could not have reached this state on your own. You would have to have a bad influence or...a possession."

It was at that moment that the priest stepped forward and brought something out from the sleeves of his robes. Was that rope he was holding?

"Please sit still, young man." The priest cooed in a gentle voice.

The skin on the back of Ciel's neck began to prickle and the hairs on his arms stood on end. It felt like his skin was crawling in disgust. He did not have good memories of being bond up by religious figures. He tried his best to sit still, reassuring himself that Sebastian would forbid any harm to come to him so long as the contract was in place.

"A possession?" Ciel said, sounding incredulous. "Don't be ridiculous, I'm perfectly myself!"

''Something does not have to control you for it to still be there.'' His aunt reasoned as the priest proceeded to tie Ciel's arms and legs to the chair. He was firm in his actions but gentle enough not to leave scars. Ciel's back was as stiff as a board as he looked over and saw the old man produce a bible from seemingly out of nowhere.

He did not like this feeling; the familiar sensation of being tied down against his will. He felt like struggling and running as far away from this as he could, but he didn't. He was the Earl of Phantomhive, and he had a reputation to uphold, especially in front of his future mother-in-law and her family. So he willed his nerves to calm down and his body to relax as he heard the priest begin to mumble words he couldn't decipher nor cared about.

''Isn't this a bit unnecessary?'' The young boy questioned, leaning back against the plush chair, looking ever as confident as he did before.

Francis frowned as the priest walked around her nephew, whispering those words all the while. ''No. Everyone in my family, excluding Elizabeth, has noticed that something is the matter with you.'' She clasped her hands in front of her dress, giving him a look that he could not quite describe. ''An Earl such as yourself should pride himself in his faith with God. The way you have been acting is making everyone around you nervous, and as your Aunt and future mother-in-law, I intend to fix this problem for you before it gets out of control. Both for you reputation's sake and mine. I will not have you diminishing my late brother, your father's, good name.''

''I can assure you that I am doing nothing of the sort.'' Ciel said, a little annoyed by both her reprimanding attitude and the fact that the priest was still buzzing around him like a pestering fly. ''But if you are that apprehensive about my behavior, then be my guest to do what you will to calm your racked nerves.'' The Earl said, smug smirk on his face.

Lady Francis peered down at him past her nose with an angered look in her eyes. ''Oh, I intend to.''

* * *

''Over here! No...perhaps over there.''

''For goodness sake, would you just pick a spot already?'' Edward exclaimed, glaring as his sister shifting back and forth, trying to figure out a good spot for her overly sized doll-house. He, Sebastian, and another servant of his house had been holding the dollhouse and moving it for nearly ten minutes now and his fingers were starting to give. Sebastian, of course, felt no strain, and was highly amused by Lady Elizabeth's actions and the men's pitiful attempts to keep the house upright.

''Don't rush me!'' Elizabeth said angrily, pointing a finger at her brother. ''This is my birthday and I want everything cute and special.''

''You only have an hour left...''

''And I will use that hour to the fullest, _Edward_!'' Lizzy said, puffing her cheeks out angrily as she placed her hands on her hips.

Sebastian chuckled to himself as they once again carted the doll-house around the room, taking sheer delight in how much the humans were struggling to keep up, whilst he was perfectly fine. He saw the knees of the servant buckle and his grin dropped, realizing now that it would take forever to get this done if he did not step in.

The demon placed both hands underneath the house and gave the illusion of everything remaining the same height wise so that Elizabeth would not notice as he took the full brunt of the house's weight. This made the humans believe that they were stronger than they appeared and he smirked silently to himself by their relieved faces. Humans were so easy to please.

All of a sudden through the move, Sebastian felt a jolt of pain begin in his elbow before traveling quickly down to his hand and flaring into a white blinding pain over his contracted hand. The pain startled him and he could not control the involuntary muscle spasm his hand went through. The momentarily lapse in weight distribution caused the front of the house to tip forward because the demon's hand completely let go of the front of the house.

The butler heard Edward and the other servant freak out and scramble to lift the house upright and maintain balance. Sebastian, though, could only try to make a fist with his out of control hand to try and both calm the spasm and ease the intense pain that he felt.

Lizzy, who had her attention elsewhere previously, finally looked over at her precious doll-house tumbling forward and practically screamed. She couldn't help it, the noise just rose out of her throat before she could contain it. She put her hands over her eyes, waiting for the inevitable crash of the priceless gift,...but it never came. She uncovered her eyes slowly to see her father in front of her, holding the doll-house up by himself without any problems. ''Father?''

''What what WHAT is with all the yelling? I am_ trying_ to get my beauty sleep.'' Edward and the two servants bowed their heads in apology as the Marquis set the doll-house down across from Lizzy's bed.

''Oh, father! That's perfect!'' Lizzy said, running over and clutching onto his arm. ''...Why didn't I think of that?''

''Oh, you're welcome, Princess.'' Alex said to his daughter, grinning happily and patting her head affectionately.

''You did! Three times! And you still weren't happy!'' Edward commented angrily, rubbing his sore fingers.

''Do not yell at my pumpkin on her special day!'' The Marquis said angrily, pointing his finger at Edward in the same angry manner that Lizzy had done only a few minutes beforehand.

''Her day is practically over.'' Edward mumbled, receiving a scolding from both his father and Lizzy for his comment.

Sebastian hadn't moved from the spot throughout the entire quarrel, standing straight, eyes portraying complete shock. He hid his arm behind his back when he felt the pain receding for now into a dull throbbing. Just what...was that? '_...I suppose my fabric must have caught or something...hmm...perhaps I am getting old._' He thought to himself, wiping the bead of sweat that gathered from his forehead away with the hand that he wasn't trying to hide.

* * *

Just a few doors away, Ciel twitched irritably as he felt the priest sprinkle holy water in his face for about the twentieth time now. The water felt cold against the bare skin of his face and he was sure that the collar of his shirt and eye-patch were soaked right about now.

''Is this _really_ necessary?'' Ciel demanded, feeling his hair plastering to his forehead because of the water.

''Just let the man do his job.'' Francis reprimanded and Ciel frowned, flinching when some water was thrown a little too close to his eye for comfort.

''For Pete's sake...'' The Earl mumbled underneath his breath.

''Now...'' The Phantomhive blinked and looked at the priest, who had come to stand in front of him and had produced some rosary beads from nowhere as well. ''Demon, filth of the underworld, you are not welcome here within this child of God.''

Ciel closed his eyes and tried to keep himself from chuckling at how stupid this man's proclamation was. This whole thing was ridiculous, to be quite honest. He was already damned; this was a waste of time.

''Now in the name of Christ, tell me your name, so that I may cast you out forever to the deepest depths from whence you came.'' The priest ended his demand with a flick of water towards Ciel's forehead and the Earl frowned as the water itched its way down his nose. He glared past his nose at the drop of water, feeling the immense urge to scratch the trail from whence the water fell, but unable to do so because of these accursed bonds.

* * *

Sebastian frowned and stopped helping the other servants of the Midford family clean up everything from the festivities. His grip on the broom he was using tightened as the demon brought a hand up to his forehead, feeling that intense pain from before bloom itself once again, only this time in his forehead. The butler growled lowly as he started to feel nauseous from the pain.

He brought both hands up to his temples, uncaring how the broom clattered to the floor loudly in the room. All he could focus on was trying to relieve the pain by rubbing his temples, but that seemed to do nothing as a loud voice boomed in his head over the pain, demanding for his...name?

''No.'' Sebastian hissed quietly to himself, clutching desperately to his head. ''You won't get it out of me.'' He spat, feeling his fangs start to elongate. A demon's true name was a powerful thing. With that knowledge, whomever knew it could command said demon to do as they pleased and even make them swear fealty to them. So naturally, a Demon did not just give his/her true name out to just any one.

''Hey, are you alright?'' The black-clad butler looked up to see one of the Midford's maids looking at him in concern, one hand raised up as if to touch him, but stopped within mid-air, as if she were afraid to get close. At this point, he really couldn't blame her.

''Yes, I apologize.'' Sebastian said, fake smile in place as he picked up the broom that he dropped. ''It has been a long day.''

''Perhaps you should retire for the evening. We have everything under control.'' The maid said and Sebastian looked from her to the two other humans in the room, all looking at him with the same look of concern.

Sebastian was silent for a moment, taking a deep breath and letting it out as the pain receded once again to a dull throbbing. There was a pattern here, that much was certain. ''Perhaps, that would be for the best. But, I promised that I would help clean up. What kind of butler would I be if I left my duties to someone else, after all?'' He sent the woman a charming smile and was slightly surprised when she didn't melt into a pile of squealing goo in front of him.

''Alright. If you insist.'' She said before going off to deal with her own cleaning business, leaving the demon with his own confused thoughts.

* * *

The world was spinning, the dark colors of the drawing room were blending together to create this dark haze of red and brown in Ciel's vision. He felt like he was going to throw up yet at the same time he felt completely fine. Strained but relaxed, angry but calm. It was a weird flux of emotions that confused the young Earl to no end. Up was down, right was left. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he foolishly thought this might be another asthma attack he had grown so accustomed too in the past, but no. This was different, stronger. This attack focused more on his mind than his body, and Ciel felt himself swaying back and forth, trying to make sense of the hazy world around him.

The Earl felt his eyelids falling, and his head tilting backwards against the chair, no longer having the strength to stay straight. He heard voices around him, most likely talking about him, but he didn't seem to mind at the moment. All he could seem to focus on was the feeling in his contracted eye. He felt no pain, just... a tingling sensation.

* * *

Something was wrong with his young master, Sebastian could feel it. His hand twitched restlessly at his side whilst he tried to contain it with his other hand. The contract mark was burning to no end and it took all Sebastian had to not cry out in pain. The demon was accustomed to pain, sure, he felt it whenever he got injured, but it usually lasted for only a few moments before disappearing completely. This pain was different, it stayed with him the entire time he had been cleaning and seemed to flare up whenever he moved in a certain way that his body didn't approve of. It was frustratingly.

The walk from where he was up to where he could smell his master from seemed to take far longer than it should have and the balls of his feet felt like they were burning from a fire far greater than the ones found in hell. His nostrils flared as he unknowingly picked up the pace towards his master, determined to rip whatever was tormenting him to shreds, no matter what it might be.

''Sebastian!'' The demon bit into his lip angrily before stopping and turning around, keeping both his hands clutched tightly behind his back.

''Yes, Lady Elizabeth?'' Sebastian said, trying desperately not to hiss the words out from his throat as he felt like his feet were standing on hot coals.

Said blonde walked up to him, yawning and scratching her eye. Her hair had been let down and she was sporting a pink nightgown. ''Would you be a lamb and get me some warm milk? I tried to get some myself, you see, but I couldn't reach the glasses. And I didn't want to bother anyone else.''

'_So that makes it alright to bother me at such a time like this?_' Sebastian felt like hissing at her as he shifted his feet softly against the ground, trying to relieve some of the heat. ''Of course, my Lady.'' The demon found himself saying instead to her as he put his not quivering hand over his heart. ''But first I must attend to...I must...'' The butler hesitated. He needed to do something, but he feared that he could not make it to his master in one piece. Every hesitant step he placed on the ground felt like fiery needles were stabbing themselves into his flesh. It made him feel aggravated that something like this was happening to him through no free will of his own. It made him feel...helpless. And he didn't like it.

''You have to go to the privvy?'' Lizzy asked, looking curiously at the way Sebastian shifted from foot to foot on the floor.

At any other moment, the mere thought would have Sebastian scoffing, but right now he didn't care at all how ridiculous said accusation sounded. He needed to get off his feet. Right. Now. ''Yes, I am afraid so.''

''Okay.'' Lady Elizabeth giggled, pointing Sebastian in the direction of the nearest toiletry before saying that she would wait for him in her room. The demon practically ran to the room when she was out of sight, locking the door behind him.

Once certain no one would disturb him, the demon kicked off his shoes and socks in a hurry, uncaring where they went at the moment as he felt some relief when he touched his naked souls to the cool bathroom tiles below. It wasn't enough to make the pain disappear completely, but it would suffice for now.

Sebastian panted heavily as he braced his hands against the sink, digging his long, demon nails into the porcelain of the bowl. Red eyes frowned when he finally took notice that his claws were showing, and had ripped through his butler gloves. ''When did I...?'' He felt himself asking before turning his eyes up to the mirror, noticing now that his eyes were glowing red and his fangs had elongated proudly past his bottom lip.

The butler grit his teeth and crumbled the porcelain beneath his hands as he felt another wave of pain go to his head, this time much worse than before. Sebastian bowed his head and whimpered in pain as he heard that wretched voice ask him for his name again. He growled and shook his head as he felt pieces of his clothing fall down onto his feet below, some even falling into the sink. After what felt like an eternity, Sebastian stood in his full demon ensemble, ugly red eyes watching himself through the mirror's reflection and angry pointed tail lashing back and forth.

Sebastian hissed as that voice kept repeatedly asking for his name, the one thing he kept hidden about himself through his long life as a demon. It made him angry that any human would ask such a thing, and also ashamed that he was reduced to such a mess because of one. The black butler clutched at his head, uncaring how streaks of red blood now traveled down his neck and face from the sharp points of his nails. He bent over the sink, feeling as if he was going to throw up.

He couldn't take much more. Nor did he know what to do in this situation. His young master was far away from him as well as that human who was taunting him. Sebastian didn't have enough strength to make it to his master, and the pain was growing unbearable. The demon howled as the pain wormed it's way into his chest, causing him to crumple down onto the hard tiles of the floor, bowing his head down to the ground in agony.

Sebastian coughed up some blood onto the white tiles before him, no longer concerned with his pride and finally whimpered a single word, in an attempt to save himself from the pain.

* * *

''Corvus...'' Ciel whispered softly, eyes shut as he fully relaxed against the cushions of the chair he was tied to.

''Corvus?'' Lady Francis questioned, sort of happy deep down to see her nephew so relaxed. He was always such a serious little thing. He reminded her of her late grandfather who always wore a similar expression, no matter what occasion.

''It is the latin word for 'crow', my Lady.'' The priest explained, taking his rosary beads and wrapping them around his hand so the cross at the end hanged in front of his open palm. ''Demons usually have latin names, having peculiar meanings such as 'devastation' or 'envy' but it is strange. Usually they have two words combined to form one name, similar to what we have.'' The priest dipped his hand in holy water before placing said hand on Ciel's forehead so the cross lay flat against the boy's skin. ''It would appear this demon is trying to fool me.''

''That is not all you have for me, is it, you foul being?'' The priest said angrily. ''Tell me your full, true name, demon, so that I may cast you away.'' The old man started to recite a passage from the bible as he placed his entire palm against Ciel's forehead.

* * *

Sebastian clawed at his arms and howled loudly in pain from the confines of the upstairs bathroom. He tried to get up but only fell backwards, ripping apart the shower curtains and falling painfully into the oversized bath tub. The demon dug his claws into his arms and assumed the fetal position, clawing at himself whilst hissing and moaning in pain.

White hot pain flashed before his eyes and the demon butler was temporarily blinded in his haze to try and relieve himself from the pain. He couldn't deal with this anymore. It wasn't worth it. He couldn't...hang on...''

* * *

_Suduire Corvus..._

* * *

All of a sudden, the haze left Ciel's mind and he found himself waking up, as if nothing had happened. The ropes had been let loose from his wrists and the priest was packing all of his materials away. The deed was done, he guessed. ''What?'' Ciel asked, feeling oddly cold in the room for some reason.

''Everything's finished. I was glad I was able to help, young man.'' The priest said to him and Ciel frowned in response. He hadn't 'helped' him. Nothing had changed from before.

''Why didn't you tell me sooner that such a thing was attached to you?'' His aunt stepped forward, a strange mix of concern and anger flaring in her irises.

''I...'' Ciel said, wrapping his arms around himself to warm his body up a bit. Why was it so bloody cold in here?

''It is common for some people to be possessed and be unaware of it.'' The priest explained and finished up the last of his things. ''I am just thankful that we got to this young lad before things got out of control.'' He picked up his bag and bowed to the both of them. ''I wish you both a pleasant evening, and may the Lord always be with you.'' He bowed again before taking his leave.

Francis helped Ciel to his feet, looking down at him with a sort of parental gleam in her eye. ''Next time something like this happens, tell me beforehand. So as not to waste time.''

Ciel frowned but nodded anyway as his aunt told him that he probably should head off to bed, seeing as she was going to do the same. She made sure that the young Earl knew the way to his room before taking her leave, trusting that he would be fine on his own. He wasn't a child anymore, not since that day, and he respected her in turn for treating him with the respect that he deserved.

As he headed down the hallway, he completely forgot about the sudden cold feeling he had obtained within that room, the feeling gone from him when he left. Odd... The blue eyed boy looked up and raised an eyebrow when he saw Lizzy coming towards him, glass of hot milk in her hands.

''Lizzy, what are you still doing up at this hour?'' The boy questioned. Usually when she or someone else needed something in the night, one of the servants on hand got it for her. How peculiar that she had to go and get her own drink herself. But then again, Lizzy didn't normally want to bother people, even the servants, during the night.

''Oh,Ciel!" She greeted "I just needed something to help me get to sleep.'' Lizzy said, smiling at him, but otherwise looking a little tired. ''Paula helped me get a glass down from the shelf when Sebastian didn't come back.''

''...What?'' Ciel asked after a moment's pause. Sebastian didn't come back? That didn't sound like his butler at all.

''I asked Sebastian a while ago to get me some hot milk, but he said that he needed to go to the privvy.'' Lizzy said, bringing a finger up to her mouth in thought. ''Now that I think about it, he has been in there for an awful long time. Do you suppose he's alright?''

''I don't know.'' Ciel said before bidding Lizzy good night for the evening, promising that he would check out the situation and that she wasn't to worry. The Earl frowned deeply as he made his way to where Lizzy had last seen Sebastian. If what his fiance said was true, then Sebastian hadn't come out for at least a half hour to forty five minutes.

This perplexed him for two reasons, one, Sebastian was a DEMON. He didn't NEED to go to the bathroom. And second, what if...something happened to Sebastian because of that damn priest? If so, then there would be literal hell to pay. He needed Sebastian around to help him with his contract.

Their contract. Something that bound them equally together, using one another to satisfy their own needs. If that was gone, then how would he complete his revenge? The thought made Ciel both angered and anxious. No. He would have his revenge and Sebastian would help him get there. No matter what. The devil promised him that he would stay by his side until he got his revenge, and Ciel made it clear that Sebastian was never to lie to him. So why was the Earl's heart beating so loudly against his rib cage as he finally made it to the bathroom door.

Ciel knocked on the door once, out of habit more than anything else. He waited exactly five seconds before turning the knob and opening the door. Nothing seemed amiss in the spacious bathroom. The shower curtains were hung like normal and there was no speck of dust on the sink. Everything was so perfect that Ciel thought at first that he might have gotten his rooms mistaken, but that wasn't possible. There was only one bathroom near this end of the building on this floor.

Ciel huffed and closed the door behind him, irritated by everything that happened that day. He reached up and slid off his eye-patch, which was still a little wet from the holy water, and let it drop down on the to the floor.

''Sebastian, I have had enough of your games.'' He commanded in a frustrated tone. ''Come he-'' The words died in the young boy's throat as he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Nothing wasn't that much wrong with his appearance, just slightly damp, but what had him frozen was his now exposed eye. The contract, which bound Sebastian to him until his revenge was accomplished...was gone.

* * *

**Author's Note: Hi everyone! Thanks for reading :D This was my first Black Butler fic so I hope you enjoyed and I did the characters justice. I wanted to focus on an idea that I don't recall anyone ever writing about before, at least in my experience, so this is what I came up with! There will be four chapters in total and I have the whole plot set up for everything, now all that's left is to write it! ^w^ So yea, thanks again for reading and please review, it motivates me to write faster! Thanks again for reading! Ja~!**

**~Migoto Nami**

**P.S, For those of you who are waiting for Ander's Sacrifice to update, no, I have not abandoned it. It's just that my mind is forcing me to type this out. But fear not, Ander is one of my favorite OCs. I will NOT abandon her, trust me :]**

**P.S.S. Now please enjoy this little bit of randomness. 8D**

* * *

_~Random Short~_

"_Will that be all, sir?"_ The nasally voice asked him through the radio box in front of the drive thru menu.

Sebastian turned his expression towards his young master in the passenger's seat. "Would you like anything else, my young lord?"

"A chocolate frostie." Was all he replied to which Sebastian repeated to the drive thru waitress.

"Ooo! I'll have chicken tenders!" Cried Finny from the back seat.

"And I'll have a chicken sandwich!" Added Mey-Rin.

''Well I want a happy meal! And make sure they put the boy toy in there this time! I don't want another frilly princess!'' Bard chimed in from in between Mey-rin and Finny.

''They don't have happy meals!'' Sebastian roared, turning around to glare at them all. ''This is Burger King!''

''Well FFFUUUUUCCCCKKKK!''

''Enough. Sebastian, drive forward. Those three can go without.''

''Aw man!'' The Phantomhive Servants cried in unison.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Black Butler belongs to Yana Toboso. If I owned Sebastian...let's just say he would never leave my bedroom. Ever. He'd be my little sex slave...ahem...yea. Also, some of the designs for the underworld were taken from FFXIII-2's land structure. So yea, thought I'd put this here.**

**Songs Listened to When Writing: The Prayer by Hayley Westenra, Moments Like This by Reamonn, Devil Woman by Cliff Richard**

* * *

Ciel was startled as two perfect blue eyes stared back at him from the mirror. No...this couldn't be real. This couldn't be happening. He hesitantly brought his hand up to his eye, tracing his middle finger along his lower eyelid in disbelief. He lowered his hand slowly, the reality of what must have transpired finally sinking in.

''Sebastian...'' The Earl whispered to himself quietly before gritting his teeth and slamming his fist onto the sink counter. No! Sebastian. He was supposed to stay with him til the end! He promised! What about his revenge? How was he supposed to obtain it now? Who did that bastard think he was, creating false hopes like that? They were supposed to have an agreement, damn it!

''Ciel, are you alright in there?'' A hesitant knock on the bathroom door ripped the young boy from his thoughts and he frowned. He took up his discarded eye-patch and tied it on with a little bit more force than necessary. The door was opened swiftly after that and Lizzy blinked when she saw the irritated look on her fiance's face. She kept her hand in mid-air for a second before dropping it down to her side.

''What's wrong?''

Ciel let out a long breath from before pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to calm down. If he had been like all the other naïve people on this planet, he might have tried to lie to himself and make false accusations as to why Sebastian and his seal were gone. But no. Ciel wasn't like them, he wouldn't deny what happened for some foolish, temporary hope of relief. He was stronger than that.

''Lizzy, I can not find Sebastian.'' He said simply, deciding to be truthful with her. Though he kept some details to himself, of course.

''What?'' His fiance said, grabbing his hand in disbelief. ''Well let's go find him!''

''No. It is late, you should retire.''

''But I want to help you.'' Lizzy said stubbornly, shaking her head. Her blonde hair swayed around her with the motion and her green eyes gleamed with determination. At that moment, he might have admitted to himself that she was beautiful, if only for a second, if his mind was not so focused on what happened with his butler. ''Come on, let's go tell mother what happened.''

Ciel frowned, looking off in another direction, finding that he couldn't argue as she lightly pulled on his arm in the direction of her mother's bedroom.

* * *

To say the least, Aunt Francis wasn't the least bit happy about being woken up for some wild goose chase. She had everyone that was still awake search from top to bottom, but there was no sign of Sebastian. Not like that was much of a surprise, anyway...

At around two in the morning, Francis called off the search, much to Lizzy's dismay. The blonde had wanted to search longer, protesting that they couldn't just leave Sebastian out in the cold. It was only through the conjoined effort of both her fiance and mother's coaxing that she finally gave in and retired for the evening. She did make her mother swear to continue the search in the morning, though, before she scampered off.

Francis also made one of the other servants in the home help Ciel get ready to retire. Now that had been an awkward three minutes of his life, being undressed and then dressed again by someone he didn't know. He guessed that he never realized how accustomed he had gotten to Sebastian dressing him until someone else attempted it.

Ciel's dream that night was hazy. It was one of those dreams that you could recall bits and pieces of but would have trouble trying to tell to someone else. Or make sense of it yourself for that matter. So he didn't think on it too much as he got up from his bed the next morning to one of the Midford family servants knocking on his door.

The Earl instinctively furrowed his brow when he saw the same servant from before enter his room and bow, announcing that he would prepare him for the day. Ciel was about to protest, wondering why the hell Sebastian wasn't doing this instead, but then he remembered what had transpired last night. So he just nodded and let the man do his job.

Even with everyone now up and helping the search, no sign of the black-clad butler was found, and Ciel felt a strange empty feeling in his chest when his aunt called off the search for good. She readied a carriage for him and Lizzy hugged him goodbye for the longest time before he left. The Earl knew that the blonde had wanted to do something more, but she couldn't really decipher what that was. So she just promised to visit in two days and offered to make up flyers with him. Ciel had declined, though, saying that his household servants would handle it.

The carriage ride back felt like it had taken an eternity, but was really only about an hour or so. Ciel felt sort of...lonely now that Sebastian wasn't there to torment him with little quips and remarks. The demon wasn't overly talkative when it was just the two of them, but the company was appreciated none the less, and the Earl was surprised to realize that he sort of missed that feeling of companionship during that long, desolate ride home.

* * *

Ciel unconsciously gripped the side of his ring with his index finger as he ascended the steps of his home. The image of the manor burning always seemed to enter his mind whenever he walked up these steps; the same steps he had been forcibly dragged down from into an awaiting black carriage three years ago.

The Earl closed his eyes for a brief moment, willing his thoughts away as the door to his mansion was opened by the servant that had driven him here. Ciel's face remained neutral as he entered his home to see everyone standing in a line before him. Rehearsed shouts of ''Welcome home, young master!'' filled his ears along with Tanaka's typical santa impression. The young boy sighed at the familiar greeting as the man behind him bowed before shutting the door so that he may return home now that his deed was done.

Ciel opened his eyes when he heard the inevitable question of 'Where's Sebastian?'. He looked at his servants to see everyone staring at him with confused looks on their faces.

Ciel shrugged off his coat, gave it to Bard to hang up and took off his hat as well. ''Sebastian received a personal call yesterday, and he will be out of town for a while.'' He lied, having come up with the excuse during the long trip back home.

''A personal call?'' Bard asked, raising an eyebrow as he hung up his master's coat and hat. He had never heard anything about any family that Sebastian might have had or not. So this was news to him.

''Is everything alright?'' Mey-rin chimed in from next to the cook. She would hate to hear that one of Sebastian's relatives or someone else was ill. That likely seemed to be the case in her eyes, considering that the butler was called away so suddenly.

Finny frowned while he waited patiently for an answer from his master. Mr. Sebastian and the young master had been the first people to ever show him kindness in his life. He didn't like the idea of either of them being sad or hurt.

''Yes. Yes.'' Ciel said, walking past them and ignoring all other questions thrown his way. ''Tanaka.'' He turned around to stare at the old man, who had at some point became his true self without anyone noticing. ''You will fill in for Sebastian until further notice.''

The old man, in his real form now, bowed before his master. ''Yes, sir.''

''Good. Now, bring me a phone as soon as possible. I'll be in my office.'' The young boy dismissed himself and headed upstairs, not waiting to hear a reply.

* * *

A little while later found Ciel sitting in his office chair, staring at the phone before him. He was absolutely dreading this phone call. Asking _those people_ for help was something he never thought he would have to do. Nor wanted to do. Ever.

The Earl picked up the phone and dialed the number, taking the receiver up to his ear as he tried to decipher how to exactly make his request. The phone rang twice before a familiar Indian voice talked into the phone.

''_Hello. This is the Phantomhive Town House. How may I help you today?_''

''Agni.'' Ciel greeted. ''Just the man I was looking for.''

''_Oh, Lord Ciel! Good evening. Is there something you needed of me?_'' The voice on the other end of the phone sounded surprised. Ciel usually never called the Town House unless he had to come into town with his butler for the Queen. But even then, he usually sent a letter instead of calling.

''Yes actually.'' Ciel ran his hand over some papers on his desk, straightening them out a bit. ''My butler is away on some personal business.'' He could have lied further and said that Sebastian was doing something for him, but he had already told his servants that Sebastian had something to take care of on his own. The boy didn't want the two lies to clash so easily and have himself be found out, so he kept to what he said to Bard and the others. ''And I am in need of a temporary butler. You and Soma can both come to stay at my manor. And of course, I will pay you for you services.''

There was a silence on the end of the phone for a second before he heard light sniffling come from the device. Ciel could just imagine the Indian butler making a fist with manly tears going down his face. ''_Lord Ciel, of course I will help you! Mr. Sebastian is a dear friend of mine, and I will gladly help you both in your time of need! No compensation required!_''

Ciel blinked for a second before closing his eyes, a smirk coming onto his lips. He should have expected Agni to say something like that. He was just that type of person. ''Well...if you insist. Thank you. How soon would you be able to come here?''

''_I am sure that my prince and I will make it to your estate before tomorrow. Do not worry, we will make hast, Lord Ciel-_''

_''What? Ciel? Give me the phone, Agni!''_

Said Earl cringed when he heard Soma's voice screech in his ear from the other side of the conversation. Ciel pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. So this is what he was going to have to live with for a while, huh? The boy sighed as Soma asked him a million questions. He chose to answer none of the inquiries and interrupted the Indian prince the first chance he got.

''I will see you both later, before tomorrow then. Good day.''

Ciel hung up the phone and took the cup of tea on his desk into his hand. He swiveled his chair around, wondering if the phone call he had just made was a wise decision or not.

* * *

About two hours later, Tanaka knocked on his door, most likely having his mid-afternoon tea ready. Ciel told the old butler that he could come in and watched as Tanaka got everything ready, just like Sebastian used too. A glazed look overcame the boy's only visible eye as he remembered a time when Sebastian wasn't as good as he was now...

_About three years ago, a ten year old Ciel and Sebastian had been standing in the green house room of the manor. Ciel watched the demon prepare his tea and put it in front of him on the clean table. The young boy's fingers still stung from when the black-clad butler whipped his hands with his baton that morning. _

_Ciel had just been rescued by Sebastian from his captors only a few weeks ago, and the two were swiftly on their way to getting the Phantomhive title and land back. The property and name had been temporarily given back to the Queen in this time of crisis when the manor was absent an Earl, and Ciel couldn't wait to reclaim it. Having both of those things brought him that much closer to his revenge, after all..._

_In the meantime, Sebastian acted as Ciel's tutor in everything an Earl should know: horse back riding, language, economics, etc. since the young boy didn't want to hire anyone else for the manor at this time. Ciel, honestly, was not fond of staying alone together with a monster that was one day going to kill him. Who would honestly? But Ciel was also a proud little thing, and he didn't want anyone else to see him at such a vulnerable time. It was bad enough that that demon had to see, never mind anyone else._

_Earlier that morning, Ciel had been working with Sebastian on his latin translations and foolishly got an answer wrong. The punishment from Sebastian had been a slap to his open hands from a baton he used when teaching the young boy, and it hurt like nobody's business. He doubted the demon had even tried to hold back and Ciel could just imagine the scum's smug smirk from the encounter._

_Ciel didn't bother listening as his butler told him what tea had been prepared and lifted the concoction up to his lips, taking a greedy gulp in frustration. His one visible blue eye widened as he swallowed the drink. A smirk came onto the boy's lips, hidden by his cup, as he gestured Sebastian over towards him._

_''Sebastian, open your hands.'' The demon looked confused but did as he was told, and Ciel took great pleasure in pouring that disgusting excuse for scalding tea over his butler's hands. ''This isn't tea. This is just brown water. Start over!''_

Ciel traced the rim of his cup with his index finger, smirking to himself. That's how they always were...well, had been. Always trying to one-up each other just for amusement. It took the edge off of their inevitable destiny together and Ciel found that he rather enjoyed their games. No matter how tiresome they became, which meant a lot because Ciel never liked playing just one game for too long. There was just something about Sebastian, though, that he never got bored with.

''Young master?'' Ciel looked up at Tanaka next to him, who had a sort of strange expression on his face. ''Is there anything else I can do for you?'' From the tone of voice Tanaka had, Ciel could tell that he had been calling out to his master for some time now.

Ciel looked away and replied, ''No. I'm fine. Leave me to my work.'' He was a little miffed that he had been caught daydreaming about _Sebastian_ of all things.

Tanaka blinked before bowing and leaving the room, more than likely going to go relax for a little while. Being real Tanaka did tire him out significantly, after all.

When the old butler was gone, Ciel got up from his desk quietly and walked out of the room, across the hall and into the bathroom. He shut the door behind him and curiously untied his eye-patch. This time, he set it neatly down on the sink and kept his eye closed for a second, just staring at himself in the mirror.

''_Why are you even trying?_'' He thought to himself. ''_You know nothing's going to be changed._'' He knew that...He knew that and yet.

Ciel brought a hand up to his eye and touched it for a second in longing before ripping it away angrily, as if he had been burnt. He bit down on a part of his cheek and opened his right eye to look at it in the mirror.

He couldn't say he was surprised when he saw the contract still gone, but he would be lying if he said that he wasn't the least bit disappointed...

* * *

Consciousness was slowly slipping back, bit by bit, until finally, rose red eyes opened fully. In a daze, they took in the world. Purple, thundering sky, white skeleton trees all around, and dead, crusted ground underneath. The dark figure slowly sat up, holding a clawed hand to it's head.

A welcoming roar sounded from above and hazy eyes looked up into one of the skeleton trees. A dark figure lay perched there, watching the demon below him in amusement. It had a lion's face, with glowing red eyes. The rest of it's body was that of a lion as well, except for the surprisingly large bat like wings that protruded form it's forelimbs, the bird-like feet and talons, as well as the exceptionally long, spiky reptilian tail that resembled something from the folklore about dragons. The lion's mane was black as well as the rest of it's body, signaling it's low status among the demon community.

''Well, well, well.'' The minion said, making no move to stand and be respectful towards it's 'master'. ''I didn't expect you to be back so soon.'' The creature's eyes had mischief in them as he watched the demon before him stand up on slightly shaking legs.

''Videns.'' The demon spat towards the lion-like creature. ''Do not speak to me in such a tone. Know you place.''

''My place,'' The creature said, swooping down in front of the tall figure. ''Has, and always will be under you father, Suduire. You are just lucky that I still stick around.'' Videns said smugly.

''Tch.'' Sebastian scoffed, having no response to that, as he took in the being's appearance more closely now that he was on the ground. The butler was confused about his minion's odd coloring but didn't question it. He had enough to ponder about as it was, wondering exactly why he had returned to the pits of hell in the first place. Never mind the fact that he was three layers lower than he was supposed to be.

The lion minion only stared on defiantly and Sebastian glared at him before stalking off in the direction of the higher layers. If it was one thing he didn't miss about his home, it was definitely Videns' attitude. He headed northwest, ignoring the monstrous winged creatures that flew and fought overhead. The ground was dry and had no vegetation to speak of. The only interesting thing about it were the pits of lava that showed up occasionally, shooting smoke and fire into the air whenever they felt the need.

There were many different, dangerous monsters lurking around the plains and Sebastian took some time avoiding them, too confused to bother with them and just wanting to get back to his true home and figure everything out. As he was went, he tried to remember what exactly happened. He only remembered a strange voice, extreme pain, staying at Lady Elizabeth's house, giving her that gift, and also this feeling of being 'ripped away' so to speak. He couldn't explain why or how, just that he felt it for some reason.

Sebastian used his wings to flap over the ravine separating the plains and the small depression harboring the only water source in this layer. It appeared to be bigger than the last time Sebastian saw it, but that wasn't surprising, considering that this layer always looked as if a thunder storm was about to happen. His heels clicked as he came down onto the hard ground on the other side and the demon silently sighed to himself as he heard his heels clicking against the earth. How he had missed that sound.

His thigh high boots kept his legs dry as he ran through the water towards the exit, uncaring as some splashed against him. He passed a pair of hydras who were too busy fighting over a female to notice his presence, and a large, red cactus-like creature that glared at him as he went. Sebastian jumped out of the way of some harpies, or bird-bitches as many demons liked to call them, who tried to attack him and just kept on going. Eventually they stopped pursuing him when he got close enough to the entrance, and Sebastian sighed as he finally made it to a cliff that lead to a smokey, dark abyss below.

This was the entrance to the second layer of hell. The demons were much more powerful there and only certain ones could make it through. The underworld consisted of five different layers where the demons dwelled as well as a separate wasteland with it's own layers for sinners who came down here instead of to heaven they passed on. The demon layers consisted only of demons and their presuls, creatures that followed them. A presul's main job was protecting their master from any threat and also hunting and fighting with them. These demon servants could be anything from just over-sized animals to powerful creatures like chimeras, wyverns, and even dragons. Succubi could also be presuls, but it took a lot of patience to train them, considering all they had on their minds was sex. Videns, himself, was the product of a mix between a lion chimera and a dragon, and it was certainly a pain, but a necessary pain, to have him as Sebastian's presul.

A gust of wind blew up towards his face and the demon frowned as the white wind spread out around the cliff, as if blocked by a force field or something. Sebastian stopped in mid-jump, having been ready to just plunge under the edge to the next layer smoothly. He stood straight for a second, staring at the odd wind formation. Usually it just blew right up onto the ravines and hit him full force when he traveled through the layers, but it was not doing so now.

The butler tentatively reached out towards the invisible wall and howled when a lightning-like pain zapped through his hand, up his arm and neck to the side of his face. Sebastian hissed and backed off of the force field, clutching his electrified hand to his chest. Parts of his arm ripped open, revealing bloodied wounds that zig zagged across his skin, caked with fresh blood. He could only imagine what the side of his face looked like right about now.

Sebastian was silent for a spell, thinking for a while about what just happened before he heard laughter next to him. He looked up to find Videns' obnoxious head, which came up to the butler's shoulders, thrown back in hysteria.

''Videns.'' Sebastian warned, teeth bared in irritation. ''Explain this to me.''

The lion chimera cackled some more, dragon tail whipping in amusement. ''Why should I? You usually are the one harping about being so 'intelligent.''' He spread his wings and flew around in circles past the barrier, just to rub it in the demon's face.

Sebastian sighed and let his arm drop to his side, already feeling it healing itself. He was starting to remember why exactly he never liked Videns to begin with, even though the chimera was part cat.

''My lord! You have returned!''

Sebastian recognized the voice immediately and turned around, almost sighing in joy when he saw his most trusted presul, Vigil, run up to him on his six, spider-like legs, carrying his large pinchers in front of him proudly. He looked like he had just eaten, if the blood stain on his fangs were anything to go by. He must have just sensed his master's presence. ''Yes.'' The demon butler said, nodding. ''I just arrived a while ago.'' He stared at Vigil, noting that the over-sized scorpion's coloring was much different than it was before he had left for the human world. Vigil's body was black, like Videns', and his body looked exceptionally shiny for some reason. But wait, the presul had been blue the last time he saw him, so why?

Sebastian blinked in confusion when he finally took notice of the color change seriously. He looked down at himself for the first time since coming here and looked absolutely horrified when he saw his garments. He appeared to be wearing a full length body suit made of leather but that wasn't so. There were three parts to his outfit, consisting of long fingerless gloves that went all the way up his arms, black boots that came up to his mid-thigh and a centerpiece that had a tattered long cape that connected to the small of his back and flowed behind him in shreds. The material of his boots had cut-outs of little diamonds that traveled down the outside of his legs and the centerpiece was cut out as well into a V-neck design that popped into a flared collar and stretched down in patterns like little snakes over his stomach and chest, showing off some of his creamy, pale skin. His wings were bat-like and were folded against his back neatly, not being used at the moment, and he had large ram horns on top of his head that curled backward in a spiral, the bone never going father down than the tops of his pointed ears. His nails were elongated into sharp talons and his demon-like tail was twitching behind him in confusion.

Now, Sebastian didn't much care what he looked like clothes-wise. Some demons even preferred to be nude, and the butler certainly had no qualms with dressing like this in his own realm, but what had him so shocked and confused was the color of his outfit. He was dressed head to toe in nothing but pure black. Everything about him was black except for his skin, eyes and horns, and it scared him.

Color was a big thing in hell. It showed a demon's rank and was your passport to other layers. Black was the color for the first layer. All demons in that layer wore black and no other color. They could not travel downwards into other layers because they were not high enough in rank. They could be escorted into the other layers by a demon of higher rank, but that usually never happened unless they had to go see Satan himself, which was exceedingly rare. A dark green signified the second layer, and demons that dwelled there could go into the first layer and travel to the second, but could not go any further. Dark blue was the third layer, the layer and rank in which Sebastian had before going to the human world. Rich purple was the next layer and it signified the Archdemons. There were only six of them and one had to be exceptionally skilled to even be considered to join their ranks. Lastly, the fifth layer belonged to Satan. And Satan alone.

''What is the meaning of this?'' Sebastian roared, looking angrily at Vigil, who took a step back quietly.

''You've been demoted.'' Videns said from above as he floated down and randomly perched himself on the back of Vigil's tail. The scorpion presul hissed and tried to shake him off, but the chimera stayed where he was.

''...What?'' Sebastian said, disgusted. The very thought sickened him. He had worked very hard to be moved into the third layer and was outraged that such a privilege had been taken from him.

''If you are really that dense as to not remember, than I have even more disrespect for you.'' Videns teased and jumped onto the ground.

''Do you not remember, my lord?'' Vigil asked quietly, looking at Sebastian as the demon placed his index finger to his lip in thought.

''...No.'' Sebastian answered truthfully. ''I do not.'' Videns scoffed and then there was silence for a few moments as the butler realized what exactly this would entail for him. ''...What of my other presuls? Secuutus, Contego, and Tutamen?'' He had had five presuls, including Videns and Vigil before this whole ordeal, and was curious as to their whereabouts. The more presuls one had, the more powerful the demon was seen to be, and he was eager to have them all here with him after such a long time.

Vigil was silent, looking down at his master's feet as Videns shook his head, for once not grinning in amusement. ''They have left you.''

''I see...'' Sebastian said, feeling angry yes, but mostly overwhelmed. It was a lot, even for one such as him, to take in. He had basically just been reduced from a noble to a commoner in the matter of a day.

''What now, my lord?'' Vigil said, curious as to what his master would do now.

''...Are you to leave me as well?''

''No.'' Vigil gladly held up his claws in worship to Sebastian. ''I was your first presul, and I am, and always will be with you. I gave my oath when you beat me all those years ago.'' To gain a presul, a demon must seek out and defeat a being that they would want in their party. It could be anything in hell besides a human spirit or other demons. Sebastian had been but a demonling then, not really looking for any specific type of presul, just wanting one who was strong enough to fight along side him. Everything he defeated laid themselves down to him, but he wanted none of them. They were all weak to be taken down so easily.

Sebastian had found Vigil in a cave, devouring a lizard/hell-hound chimera and the young demon was curious to see how the giant scorpion would react to being snuck up on. To his surprise, Vigil sensed him coming and nearly had taken the little one's head off with his large pinchers, but Sebastian had demon magic on his side and, with much effort, trapped the scorpion and cut off most of it's limbs. As all the other creatures before him, Vigil had bowed his head to Sebastian when being thoroughly beaten, waiting to either be slain or enslaved. The final blow never came, for Sebastian had seen how well of a fighter he was and had decided to make Vigil his presul instead of destroying him.

''...I thank you.'' Sebastian said, very much grateful that his scorpion would stay by his side. They had been through quite a lot together, and the demon couldn't imagine life without him, much like how Soma felt similarly about Agni. The demon got a weird look in his eyes when he remembered his 'friends' from the human world, wondering how he was going to get back there, or even if he was going to have his young master's soul. It didn't seem likely, for the door to the human realm lay in the third layer.

''And what of you?'' The black-clad demon asked, looking towards Videns. The lion chimera had never liked him to begin with. The only reason they put up with each other was because the presul was extremely loyal to Sebastian's father, even after his death. The father had asked Videns to take care of his offspring and to this day still remained loyal to his late master's wishes. Or at least, Sebastian still hoped he did. It would be rather difficult to get back his reputation without a powerful presul like him.

''My loyalties still lie with my master.'' Was all the cat chimera said and Sebastian nodded.

''Alright, then I suppose... it would be a good idea to head into town and have a talk with _her_.''

* * *

The walk back was rather uneventful, the trio only stopping to fight a few monsters that would not leave them alone. Eventually they made it to the village and Sebastian was not surprised to see how much it hadn't changed over the past 600 years.

The town was cut off from the deadly plains due to a large gate made out of steel. There was the largest head of a hell-hound anyone had ever slain in this layer hanging from the middle of the gate. It still had crusted blood on it from when Sebastian had slain it 700 years ago and the demon felt a little smug as he stared at it's head as he made it closer to the gates. He hated dogs with a passion after all, and he had gladly accepted the mission to slay it for stealing the village's prey items under their noses.

Sebastian easily jumped over the gate, that being the only way to get into the village. There used to be a door that opened to allow citizens inside, but monsters managed to sneak in through that way so the idea was put to rest. Besides, every demon, besides very small children, had wings. They could just fly over the wall. There was no need for a door.

Videns and Vigil remained outside, watching their master go in. Presuls were not allowed inside the town, only demons..

A few citizens greeted the demon butler as he jogged towards his destination. Most, though, gave him confused looks, baring their teeth silently at him in recognition, but internally wondering why someone so high up in rank such as he was dressed in black like them. He passed a few decrepit, abandoned buildings before taking a right up some stairs to a higher part of the village. Up here was where the resident's lived while the first floor was just ruins and rubble.

Sebastian continued down the center road, ignoring the glowing eyes that peered out at him from the dark shadows of ruined buildings. He took a left at a crumbling water fountain and hanged down a road hidden from the public eye. He went up a small flight of stairs and stopped just about on the middle of the worn steps, trying to collect himself for the encounter that was to come. Sebastian took a quick moment to prepare himself before walking up the stairs and opening the door, letting himself in.

His eyes glowed in the darkness of the room as the demon shut the door behind him, feeling on edge. Sebastian's nose twitched in the darkness as he walked into the center of the room calmly. He picked out her scent in a millisecond, having known it all his life. She was in this room, hiding. To anyone else, this might have been a scary concept, but he wasn't afraid. He knew she wouldn't hurt him... at least not fatally anyway.

Sebastian brought a hand up to his mouth, clearing his throat for a moment and moving to speak, when all of a sudden a hand wrapped around his neck and pushed him back against the wall. The candles in the room magically started burning and Sebastian frowned as he saw angry, lifeless red eyes stare into his own. The woman towered over him, more than likely thanks to her own heels, as she stared at him with a neutral expression. ''Why are you here?'' She asked in a monotone like voice, baring her fangs at him. ''There is no reason for you to be.''

''Are you not happy to see me?'' Sebastian asked, showing off his fangs as well.

''I never said that.'' The demoness hissed at him, not liking how he put words in her mouth.

''Ah, but your greeting says otherwise.'' Sebastian smirked as he was released with an angry snarl and thrown back against the wall roughly.

''Tch, you are as disrespectful as ever, pup.'' The demoness said, waving her hands to her left, making more candles spark to life, illuminating the room further. There was a bed that had many different furs from monsters in the far left corner and a kitchen-like setting to the right. Candles lay on every flat surface of the room and obviously had not been used often, considering that they were all not even close to being fully burned down yet. There was also the remains of a carcass laying on a table in the far right corner. It was obvious that the demoness had been eating, and was not happy to be disturbed.

Sebastian watched her go and sit down in a chair next to the table and took a step forward, getting her attention. ''There is something I must inquire to you about...mother.'' Sebastian let his eyes trace over the demoness that gave birth to him, noting that she changed her hair style sometime over the long years that they were apart. It was now shorter, coming a little past her shoulders in dark grey, straight pieces. Her hair was the same as his, having that weird piece in the middle of her face, and his eyes were the same as hers as well. Besides those things, there were no blatantly obvious signs that distinguished their mother and son relationship, Sebastian having gotten most of his looks from his father.

''Oh I see.'' The demoness said sarcastically, taking up a piece of meat and stripping it of the fur before popping it into her awaiting mouth. Unlike other demons, the ones that lived in the first and second layers could sustain themselves on the wildlife in hell. It was only high-ranking demons like the ones in the third and fourth layers that had to sustain themselves through souls. Those demons used far more magic and energy, and required souls to keep them alive. ''You only come here when you need something. You're just like Celsus.''

''Isn't that to be expected, though?'' Sebastian asked his parent, his eyes flashing dangerously. He knew that he was his fathers son. He couldn't escape that, but still, it made him angered that he was always compared to that worthless being who never wanted nor tried to move up in the ranks of the underworld. Because of him, Sebastian had been born into this low class, the first layer, and he hated his father for being so lazy and reducing his mother and himself to such worthless lives.

''I suppose so.'' Glinda said, ripping apart a piece of a wing in her mouth, uncaring how undignified she looked in front of her offspring. ''So what is it that you need? It's not every century that you come up here just to ask my advice.''

Sebastian was silent for a moment before saying quietly, ''Have you not seen my attire?''

''I have, and I do. I just thought you wanted to match me and get close to your mother for a change.'' She cackled, breaking apart a piece of bone with her talons.

''Mother, I am being serious.''

''As am I, pup. As am I.'' Glinda said, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes that matched the one Videns gave him earlier. She was obviously the source of his bad behavior. ''You hardly ever come see me anymore. I miss my baby.'' She said, chuckling at the mere thought. Demons lived alone, unless they were a part of a mated pair, in which case the two would stick together for sometimes eternity, and other times leave each other after a few centuries to resume life alone. Their kind was created to live alone, and she preferred it that way quite honestly. Though she never passed up a brief opportunity to see her only offspring.

Sebastian sighed but otherwise let that conversation die and proceeded to tell his mother about all that he could remember up until the point where Videns told him that he had been 'demoted.' His parent proceeded to snort when he was finished, having completed her meal, and was now looking at him from her comfortable spot lounging on her chair. ''The answer is obvious. You were exorcised.''

''Exorcised...'' Sebastian repeated, a puzzled look on his face. He had a feeling that something like that had happened, and he was downright enraged that he had forcefully been taken away from his master against his will, but that didn't explain... ''Then why has my rank been diminished again?''

''Because that is what happens when one gets exorcised.'' Glinda explained, inspecting underneath her nails for any blood. ''It happened to a few of my colleagues before. You just have to build your way back up again...after you see our Lord that is. There should be a messenger here to fetch you very soon, I wager. Our Lord sees everything.''

''..I see.'' Sebastian said quietly, a few things being brought into the light because of this little conversation. He would have to consider his next few moves carefully in order to get what he wanted. ''Thank you, mother. This conversation has been very...enlightening.''

Glinda scoffed at him. ''Just make sure to knock next time, or I'll break your neck again, pup. And don't bother me when I'm feeding.''

''Of course.'' The former butler said and opened the door behind him, making sure to keep his front towards his mother as he slipped out of the room. Turning his back on her would be disrespectful, and he had already had many bones broken from her short temper over the years.

* * *

The ex-butler did not have to wait to long before one of those 'messengers' came to get him, as his mother said. He had tried to go hunting in the meantime, but the attempt had failed because said escort interrupted him. Sebastian straightened angrily, watching his meal, a rather large bird chimera, fly off into the distance. The black clad demon turned around slowly to glare at the high-ranking messenger before him whilst Vigil was by his side immediately, pinchers at the ready should anything go wrong. Videns was still flying overhead, ready to give an aerial attack if necessary.

''Oh, it is you.'' Sebastian said, irritated. Of all the messengers Satan could have sent to get him, he just had to choose the one that he hated the most.

''Yes.'' The smooth-voiced demon in front of him said. ''Of course, when I was called in for an escort, I never imagined that I would find a situation before me quite like this.'' You could tell from his tone of voice that he was amused, just like everyone else was, to see Sebastian reduced to such a state.

''Claude.'' Sebastian warned the spider demon. He had had enough of being ridiculed for one day.

''Careful what you say to me, Suduire.'' Claude smirked, his presul cackling behind him. He only had one presul with him, an over-sized spider. The others must have been close by, hiding in the shadows. ''You no longer have the right to refer to me so familiarly.''

Sebastian sneered at the ranked clothing the other demon wore. Claude's attire looked similar to Sebsastian's, except for the random spider-like features thrown into it, like the spider cut outs on his left hip and back, and the fangs that hung from his neck. The collar of his shirt was also not flared like Sebastian's, it was turned down flat against his shoulders. Intricated into the black design were dark blue patterns that filled in the cut outs of the spiders in the material and traced along the edge of his collar. This signified his rank as a third-layer demon, a color that Sebastian once wore.

The ex-butler glared at Claude, which made the spider demon very smug and amused. Claude had been born into the third layer, and had been very skeptical of Sebastian when the younger demon moved up in rank to his layer. It was uncommon for a demon to move up in layers so quickly, and the fact that Sebastian had managed to do it twice in such a short period of time was amazing.

From then on, one could say that Claude considered Sebastian a threat, and the two were rivals. They always tried to best each other in the number and quality of their presuls. Sebastian _had_ currently been beating him for the past four years, having just acquired his fifth presul, a centaur, which were difficult to acquire because they always lived in packs; if you messed with one, you messed with all of them.

When Sebastian wisely made no move to speak , the spider tipped his head and turned around in the direction of the second layer. ''Let us move ahead, then.''

* * *

Sebastian kept his eyes forward as he silently walked behind Claude, not caring to look to his sides and see the grotesque, unique creatures clawing at their cages in an attempt to escape and eat his head. The hall had a single long rug that showed the way towards their destination. There were patches that were of a different color red here and there on it, and Sebastian could guess that that color was it's original look, it probably having been doused with blood so many times that it permanently became a mix of the two colors.

A large door was seen up ahead and Sebastian respectfully stopped before it as Claude opened the door and went in first. The ex-butler had seen the Devil twice before when he had to go through a brief

ceremony to be moved up in rank, but that still didn't stop him from feeling very intimidated in the presence of Satan. He was a terrifying being after all, especially considering that demons that had audiences with him could not have their presuls tag along, leaving them completely vulnerable and exposed before the ruler of Hell.

Within a few moments, Claude let him inside. The spider demon bowed and left the room, closing the door behind him respectfully. Sebastian kept his gaze on the bottom of his Lord's throne as he walked closer and got one one knee, bowing. He heard cooing and giggling from in front of him and then a loud smack of Satan's scepter against the black marble floor.

Satan's 7 mates pouted before scampering off their lord and bowing, taking their leave shortly afterwords. The Devil waved his hand and everyone else in the room left, leaving only the two of them.

Sebastian listened as his lord made himself comfortable on his throne before slamming the butt of his scepter against the floor again. ''Rise, Suduire.'' Sebastian silently nodded in thanks before standing up and opening his eyes, keeping his gaze on the wall to the left of his Lord's shoulder. It was considered extremely disrespectful to look Satan in the eyes, and knowing what his mother did to him when he was less respectful, Sebastian could only imagine what would happen if he were to act that way in front of the Lord of Hell.

**[I definitely recommend listening to Mustang Nismo by Brian Tyler Feat. Slash for this description. Makes it that much more B.A.]**

From his peripheral vision, the ex-butler took in his Lord's appearance, which never ceased to strike fear into the millions of his followers. Satan was a naga, a half-snake half-human being. Most scriptures in the Bible described him as a full serpent, but of course, the description had been watered down through the years. He had the upper body of a human that shifted into a snake where his hips would be. His snake tail had large, poisonous spikes that protruded from top and the sides. Between them were fan-like muscles that connected them and kept the spikes upright. Near the end, the tail split into three different ends, each one concluding in snake heads that acted of their own free will, staring at Sebastian menacingly and sticking their forked tongues out at him.

Satan's human half had shimmering, tiny scales all over his skin and there was a large battle wound in the center of his chest that never healed, blue veins sticking out from the gash and crisscrossing over each other before feeding back into his skin. His arms were strong and muscular, ending in four large, black talons. The outsides of the limbs had larger scales on them, like the ones on his tail, and more spikes protruded from there as well, wet and dripping with venom. He had many necklaces with teeth and other body parts from various creatures around his neck and even the skull of a small demonling mixed in with the bunch. His hair was long and dark, woven into three different plaits that ended in a whitish-grey color. Huge antelope horns rested on the top of his head as well as more spikes and fans of muscle, creating a 'crown'. His face was young looking, but not overly so and he had an unreadable expression as he stared at Sebastain.

Satan was the only demon, ever, to have red as a design in his appearance. His tail was striped black, and red. His spikes were red and the fan muscles were black in between them and the scales on his human-looking half were black. His eyes were two different colors, one red, one purple and they were narrowed as they seemed to gaze into Sebastian's internal self. Lastly, to top everything off, Satan didn't have two wings like all of his followers. No, he had three. They were black and covered in feathers, unlike regular demon wings, they having remained soft from when Satan fell from heaven. Two smaller wings protruded from the small of his back and another, larger one from his right upper back. On his left, there was but a stub from where his last wing used to be, it having been ripped off somewhere along his descent to hell.

**[Okay...you can stop rocking out now...Seriously. Stop. You're weird.]**

There was a silence for a few moments before the Lord of Hell shook his head and leaned back in his throne. ''You disappoint me, Suduire.'' He brought his scepter closer to him and stroke the rare, multi-colored orb that rested there.

Sebastian nodded his head in acknowledgment but otherwise remained silent.

"I expected more from the likes of you...however, I can't say that I'm really surprised." The Devil continued, his grotesque mouth twitching up into an ugly smirk. "After all, by blood you're nothing more than a lowlife, first class demon. By your very birth you were destined to be a failure.'' His long talons picked at a piece of crusted blood on his scepter absentmindedly. "I should have guessed this much, seeing what a disgrace your father was. Mixed with the weak blood of your mother, I can hardly say that I'm surprised."

Sebastian kept his gaze fixed on the moist, perspiring walls behind his lord, remaining perfectly silent. Of course he felt the words sting him. Not only was that a sensitive subject for Sebastian but regardless of what the Dark Lord said it would always hurt. Satan's words had a habit of digging into your skull, making you doubt yourself or provoking you to extreme jealousy or rage. He was a very influential being, though not at all in a good way.

Satan leaned his cheek against his fist, regarding Sebastian as if he were a particularly disgusting roach and was currently contemplating about how to crush him. "Well, Seduire? What do you have to say for yourself? Humor me."

Sebastian again remained quiet.

Satan's tail lashed forward and harshly collided with Sebastain. He was slammed hard against the wall and blinked to find himself staring into the hissing maws of the three serpent heads. "...I asked you a question." The devil growled, a note of irritation in his voice from Sebastian's insolence. If it was one thing the Devil was known for it was his extremely short and violent temper. "Do not think yourself a martyr for dieing because of your insolence."

"My Lord," Sebastian said calmly. "I did not answer because I have no excuse. My short comings are unforgivable and inexcusable. It was for that reason that I did not answer, your excellency." He struggled to get up and kept his gaze glued to the floor.

''I thought as much.'' Sebastian watched, with widened eyes, as one of the snake heads wrapped around his neck slowly. He struggled not to cough as the serpent ripped him up into the air and pulled him closer. The snake around his neck felt excruciatingly hot and the ex-butler flinched as one of the spikes from it's back brushed against his cheek, melting away part of his flesh because of the venom.

Sebastian clutched his fists to his sides, resisting the urge to pull against his bonds and distance himself from the disgusting snakes. But it was absolutely forbidden to touch the Lord of Hell. However...Satan could touch, strangle, maim, and rend asunder whom ever he pleased.

"You know something?" The Devil sneered, bringing Sebastain eye level with his two-toned eyes. Sebastian had never known fear until he was a mere two inches from Satan, smelling his breath which hinted of rotting flesh. "I could destroy you right now if I wanted to. I have absolutely no use for you, and why I would keep you around when there are countless others who are better is completely beyond me..." His sadistic smile widened and his grip around Sebastian's neck tightened, making the demon's eyes bulge slightly. "...Maybe I should."

"My Lord. Please..." Sebastian begged in a tight voice. It was what the Devil wanted after all: to hear him beg.

"No..." The devil said, as if he hadn't heard. "...That wouldn't be entertaining enough, actually..." He let Sebastian out of his grip abruptly and looked quite amused when the demon hit the floor with a painful sounding bang. "Perhaps it would please me more to have you toil in the flaming fields of Incendia for the next one thousand years."

Sebastian, nor any other demon, would _ever_ think about interrupting the Devil while he was speaking, but he had to bite hard on his tongue not to protest. Finally, the Devil fell silent, and that was Sebastian's cue to try and persuade his Lord.

The ex-butler wasted no time in getting on his hands and knees, bowing his head low towards the ground in respect. ''My Lord, I beg of you, let me travel to the human realm. There is a contract that I _must_ complete.'' In the back of his mind, Sebastian thought himself crazy for asking such a thing when he should be begging for his own life instead. But, even in the fearful presence of Satan, all he could think about was persuading the naga into letting him get back to his master. ''You may do whatever you wish with me after the deed is done, your excellency, but please, I implore you to let me finish what I started.''

There was a silence for a moment before the Devil spoke again, having an amused look on his face. ''Oh? And why should I allow such a thing?'' Sebastian felt a small tremble make it's way down his spine as Satan's scepter was placed under his chin and lifted so that it's owner could get a better look at the lower demon. ''You have been nothing but a disgrace, Suduire.'' He struck the ex-butler in the side of his face with his scepter, not even batting an eyelash when red blood oozed out from the large bruising sore.

Sebastian silently stared at the large multi-colored orb in front of him for a few moments before responding quietly, ''Because...my young master...he is-'' Sebastian choked and gagged as the orb next to his face started to glow, and an electrical current raced throughout his body.

''_I_ am your only master.'' Satan spat, no longer amused. ''You would do well to remember that.''

Sebastian knew better than to protest against that statement, but still remained strong in his request, talking through the pain. ''Sire, I will do anything you wish. This soul is one that I have put a lot of effort into. Please, I am begging you to let me retrieve it.''

The scepter was taken away from Sebastian's person as Satan seemed to regard him with a curious gaze. ''You seem to have grown attached to this particular soul, Suduire. Enough so that it seems you would rather die than go without. Are you growing soft?''

Sebastian remained quiet, once again thinking about why he cared so much about his young master rather than himself. The boy's soul was indeed delicious, if his smell was anything to go by, but shouldn't your interest in your own life go before the interest in your food?

Satan sat back in his chair, getting comfortable once again. ''Alright, Suduire. I will allow it, but only because this interests me. I wish to see where it will lead.'' He was referring of course to whether or not Sebastian would have the will to actually take his contractor's soul when the time came. The ex-butler could tell that the Devil was doubting his very nature as a demon to consume the souls in contracts, and it made him irritated that such a thing was even thought of. But he remained quiet and let the naga continue, ''You said that you would do anything so that I would contend to your wishes. Well fine. I have a task for you.''

Sebastian looked up slightly and flinched when that scepter was thrust in his face again. ''My orb is growing weary with age. I require a very large, powerful hellstone to replenish it's power. Bring me one, and you can have that brat.''

Sebastian gulped when his Lord finished with his request. Hellstones were basically power upgrades in hell. When found, demons would touch the stone and their maximum strength and magic stamina would be increased. If a demon acquired a lot of them, they could easily tame stronger presuls and even move up in rank more quickly. Because of their extreme power though, they were exceptionally rare to find and also to remove from the earth. Demons, aside from a very limited few, could not sense their presence, and more often than not, the stones stood alone in their hiding places, never to be found.

Sebastian mentally took in the request for a moment. Satan was asking for a big deal here. It was unthinkable to find one hellstone, let alone one large enough for this request. Any normal demon would just let it go and beg for mercy, but no. Not Sebastian. The ex-butler mentally smirked, having no doubt in his mind that he could accomplish such a task. For you see, Sebastian could _sense_ hellstones. In fact, the demon was wearing two small red ones as stud earrings at the very moment. Also, hellstones were the reason that he had been able to move up in rank so quickly. He never knew specifically why or how he could sense these things, but he could, and he wasn't about to question his good fortune. He would accomplish this task, he knew, for his young master.

''Oh course, my Lord.'' He said, kneeling respectfully with a hand over his heart. ''I will accomplish this task for you.''

Satan regarded him for a moment, having expected him to have conceded at such a hard request. This would certainly prove to be interesting. Good thing too, as he was growing rather bored. ''I see. Well then, I expect to see results in six days. If you fail, I will take great pleasure in squeezing that small head of yours into mush.''

''Of course.''

''Now get out. And try not to be a failure, like the rest of your family.''

Sebastian bowed his head to his Lord again before leaving the room, not once turning his back on him, much like when he left his mother's residence.

As he was led out, Sebastian severely hoped that there was a large hellstone in the first layer, seeing as Satan didn't grant him access to the other layers for his search. The naga probably did it on purpose too, just for his own twisted amusement.

Sebastian had found two hellstones in the first layer before, but they were both small, no bigger than his hand. To please his Lord, he would probably have to find one bigger than himself, and he sighed at the daunting task set out before him. The stone, if there was one in the layer, would more than likely be guarded by trials as well. It would certainly be a pain accomplishing this, but he knew that he would do it.

As he made it back to where Videns and Vigil were waiting for him, Sebastian envisioned that it was his young master that had given him this request, not Satan. Just imagining this gave him a surge of inspiration and confidence. For what kind of butler would he be if he could not accomplish his master's wishes?

* * *

Four days had gone by, only four, but still, Ciel felt as if it might as well have been four years instead. It was a miracle that his house was even still running without Sebastian. Agni had proved to be an excellent substitute, but even he had trouble keeping up. The Indian butler was providing for both Ciel and his prince at the same time as well as keeping the servants in check, and Ciel could tell he was tired, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

Otherwise, everything was basically fine. The manor wasn't burned down, nor had anything particularly bad happened to the Earl. Ciel proved that he could do many things by himself in those past four days that he never tried to accomplish while Sebastian was around to do it for him. Like dressing himself. He could now do that without much difficulty, although he still had trouble with his ties and buttons sometimes.

Life like this wasn't so bad, Soma still annoyed him, but that was to be expected. Ciel had gotten rather used to his childish behavior over the course of his stay, but there was one major flaw to this lifestyle. It was dreadfully boring. Sure, he still preformed tasks for the Queen and other things of that nature, but it just wasn't the same without Sebastian silently tagging along behind him.

Ciel supposed that he should be happy to have the freedom to die however he wished now, but he never cared about that. Not since the day he met the demon. No, Ciel could care less about his soul. All he wanted was his revenge. Speaking of that, Ciel was also perfectly certain that if he waited long enough, he could find the people who set his house ablaze and humiliated him if he just spent enough time making a nuisance of himself as the Earl of Phantomhive. He didn't need Sebastian. He had everyone at the manor to capture anyone that threatened the house, and from there he could find out who exactly was responsible if the perpetrators were so foolish enough to come back twice.

But no. Ciel didn't want that. He didn't _want_ to wait that long to get his revenge. He wanted to do it now, before he lost his courage and decided to just...live his life. No, he wanted to accomplish his revenge whilst that humiliated, angry fire still burned inside of him, which was why he was now doing what he was doing this late at night.

It was late, almost witching hour. Ciel was currently in the attic, preparing for what he was about to do. He had taken an ordinary mirror a few hours before and painted one side of it using black enamel. The Earl placed the mirror on a stand in the middle of a desk top so that it was eye level. It was also placed in the center of a pentagram he had drawn earlier, using his own blood to do so. Some black candles were placed on either side of the mirror, but not so close so that their flames could be seen in it's black reflection.

When that was done, Ciel got to work writing down a very specific prayer on a clean piece of paper,

_Hear me Lord Satan, I ask in your name, that the forces of darkness bestow their powers of prophesy upon this mirror; that I may use this magical medium to contact any Demons I may call forth, to scry upon for the revelation of secrets, and knowledge that is unknown to me. _

_In the name of Satan/Lucifer, I petition Ashtaroth, to bestow the blessing of prophesy and all the powers related, thereof upon this mirror. All of this, I ask in your name, Lord Satan. So it is done._

After writing the prayer, Ciel placed a bowl in front of the mirror and lit the candles one by one. He took a few deep breaths, preparing himself for what he was about to do. After a moment, he took his liter and lit the paper on fire, letting it drop into the bowl to turn to ash when it got to close to his fingertips. He recited the prayer and kept his eyes locked on the mirror, imagining it's black surface becoming black liquid water. After about a minute or so, the mirror brightened to grey in his vision and he could faintly see clouds forming.

All the while, Ciel was thinking about what he was doing. He knew that summoning a demon was dangerous. He also knew that he might not even summon Sebastian, and that a new demon might conjure up instead, but he had to to do something. The Earl had previously read about all the types of demons that could be summoned in his research over the years, not wanting to miss out on a single detail about the being that would eventually kill him. He hadn't really known how exactly he had summoned Sebastian back then and didn't particularly want to remember that part in his past, so Ciel found this new method to summon a demon. He doubted that it would have the same effect as when he summoned Sebastian, seeing as he wasn't using nearly as much blood, but it would have to suffice.

After a while, his vision began to swim more, the color black completely overcoming the grey clouds that had formed in it's shiny surface. Ciel frowned and leaned closer to the large mirror in confusion. ''Could it be...I did something wrong?'' He whispered irritably, glaring down at the pentagram of his own blood. How? He knew that he did everything like the book said. He had checked four times!

All of a sudden, Ciel's blue eyes widened as he looked back up in the mirror and saw a face resting just above his right shoulder. ''Nope.'' A voice whispered lightly in his ear, a smirk in place.

* * *

**Whoo! Finally done! And jesus crow was this a big chapter!...you're welcome! :D I'd like to thank my editor, A Midnight's Dream, for helping me with this! Love you bestie~! **

**Ha ha, I thoroughly enjoyed writing this and it used to be longer, can you believe that! I had such a ball with it! But I realized I was focusing too much on Bassy than on the actual story, so yea. I had to cut out some unnecessary parts, but could you blame me? Hell is so cool! Especially Bassy's mom! She was the most fun to make up! I love her and her bad self! :3 And also, that prayer is real. It's used for scrying. Uh yea, my editor told me to put here that you should not try scrying at home by the way, kids. Trust me, you will not get Bassy -.-**

**Anyways, I have a response to some reviews: **

**ThisIsTrueImmortality, I am terribly terribly sorry, but no. There will not be anymore of that kindly priest. Sorry :[**

**CherryFlavouredPoison, yes, it was supposed to be 'soles' as in feet. Can't believe I missed that. Whoops 0.0**

**Promocat, don't worry. Aunt Francis doesn't come around again. I promise. :3**

**Welp, thanks to everyone who reviewed! Can't believe I got so many! I'm glad you guys are enjoying it and hope you will continue reading :3 And also, don't shoot me for the cliffy. I must be alive if you ever want to know what happens next *troll face***

**So yea, as always, please review! It's gets my butt movin! Hope you have a good day, and here's another random short just for you guys, especially you VocaDancer! Luv! :3**

**~Migoto Nami**

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**~Random Short~!(The song used here is Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin' from the musical, Oklahoma)**

'_There's a bright, golden haze on the meadow~..._'

Ciel rubbed at his eyes from his position under the covers of his bed. Had he just heard someone...singing?

'_There's a bright, golden haze on the meadow~.._'

Okay, now he knew he wasn't hallucinating. Ciel sat up in bed, feeling on guard and tense as the singing seemed to come closer. The voice was definitely male and it sounded of someone middle aged...had an intruder broken into the manor? He noticed from the streaks of light that were coming into his room from the cracks in the curtains that it was just about morning. Who would be stupid enough to break in here during the day?

'_The corn is as high as an elephant's eye~.._'

Ciel reached under his pillow, finding the gun he kept there. He brought it up to his chest and aimed it at the door. Why hadn't his servants reprimanded this intruder? What the hell was going on?

'_And it looks like it's climbing clear up to the sky~!_'

Ciel braced himself as the singing stopped for a brief moment outside his door. He felt a bead of sweat roll down the side of his face as he cocked his gun, preparing himself for what was coming.

His expression turned from serious and a smidge nervous to completely confused in less than a second as Sebastian burst open the door. The butler had a hand over his heart as he gloriously sang,

'_Oh, what a beautiful Mornin'~_'

Ciel watched, horrified, as his butler happily skipped to his window and opened the curtains. The young boy dropped his gun and shielded his eyes as the new morning sun flooded into the room.

'_Oh what a beautiful day!~_'

The boy scampered backwards on his bed as Sebastian came over to him and threw an arm over his shoulders, continuing to sing as he swayed them back and forth lightly.

'_I've got a beautiful feelin'~!_'

Sebastian then practically dragged his master up onto his feet to change him for the morning. Ciel got a disgusted look on his face as the demon twirled over to his wardrobe to find him suitable clothes for the day.

_'Everything's goin' my way~!'_

''Sebastian! That is QUITE enough!'' Ciel shouted angrily, not sure he could take much more of this...whatever it was.

''But, my lord!'' Sebastian whined, getting a sad look on his face and putting both his index fingers together in a submissive manor. ''I was only trying to get you into a good mood for this wonderful morning.''

''NO! NEVER AGAIN!''

''Aw...''


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Black Butler belongs to Yana Toboso. If I owned Sebastian...let's just say he would never leave my bedroom. Ever. He'd be my little sex slave...ahem...yea.**

**Songs Used When Writing: Ravenous by X-Ray Dog, Just A Job To Do by Genesis**

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Ciel's eyes widened and he looked behind him, growing confused when he saw nothing there. He heard laughter come from all around him and frowned before turning his eyes back to the mirror. The face was still there and it had a grin that could match the Chesire cat's.

''Did I scare you?'' The voice asked, sounding amused. Surprisingly, the young boy couldn't describe which gender the voice belonged to, but one thing was for certain. This demon, or whatever it was, was definitely NOT Sebastian.

''No.'' Ciel sneered down at the mirror. ''Who are you?''

''I can be whatever you wish me to be.'' The voice said back and Ciel grew even more irritated, having already heard this speech before.

''Ugh...'' The Earl sighed, bringing a hand up to his forehead. ''You are a demon, right?''

''Yes.''

''Good. Then this mishap might be of some use to me.'' Ciel mumbled and then, in an instant, presented himself with a confident air. He straightened his back and looked down past his nose at the mirror, like he was better than the being that resided there in every possible way. ''I require information.''

''Alright, if that is what you wish.'' The voice from the mirror said, chuckling. ''But be warned, you can not get what you desire for free...''

''I am aware.'' Ciel said, before the conversation could go any further. ''But, unfortunately, I can not give you my soul.''

''Oh? Well then I have no business here.''

Ciel slammed his hands down onto the table when he saw the face start to disappear. ''I can give you something else, anything but my soul.''

The demon was silent for a moment. ''...May I inquire as to why?''

Ciel was silent for a moment before backing off of the mirror. ''...I already promised it to someone else.''

''I see, well then. Either way, I can not make a deal with you unless we are face to face.''

''Why?'' Ciel said, irritated.

''...It is part of the summoning routine.''

If Ciel thought he was irritated before, he was sadly mistaken. He could feel his eyebrow twitching in anger as he heard that lowsy excuse for an explanation. ''Well then, come out of the mirror!''

''I cannot.''

''Why?''

''It is part of the ritual in which you summoned me here. I can not come out unless the owner of the house invites me inside...again, it is part of the summoning ritual.''

Ciel smacked his face with his palm. Why does everything have to be so complicated when it came to these beings? ''I am Ciel Phantomhive, owner of this household. I hereby invite you inside, now get over here already!''

''_As you wish._'' Ciel felt shivers go down his neck as hot breath touched his ear from right behind him. He took a step forward quickly and turned around, quite surprised to see the demon in front of him.

A female stood there, towering nearly a foot taller than him. She had on a black dress that looked way too tight for any female of this day and age to be wearing and it only came down just enough to cover her womanhood from the rest of the world. The dress was strapless, and it stretched upward enough to cover only half of her large breasts and came down in a plunging v-neck with criss-crossing laces keeping it together. She had on black boots that came up to her mid-thigh and had ribbons tied in criss-crossing patterns down the outside of the shoes. On her hands, she had short, lacey black fingerless gloves that did nothing to hide her black talon-like fingernails. Her hair was medium-length and tied up in a wavy side ponytail on the right side of her head with straight pieces falling down around the back of her cranium, they being too short to go in the ponytail. She looked about as young as Sebastian and her eyes were shining a brilliant golden color. In the middle of her dress, there was a large wolf cut-out. It appeared to be howling, it's head taking up the entire space of her right breast and it's rear end sitting down by the end of her dress. It's tail wrapped around her left side and ended in the middle of her back. Lastly, the coloring that filled in the wolf, her laces, ribbons and ends of her hair was a dark purple, symbolizing her position as an archdemon, one of only six who's powers were just below that of Satan's.

''My my...'' The demoness said, staring down at Ciel with lust-filled eyes. ''You certainly smell divine. I couldn't smell properly whilst stuck inside that mirror, but now...''

Ciel took a step back as she came towards him. ''I'll ask again, who are you?''

The demon stopped and seemed to ponder for a moment. ''I do not currently have a name, and I doubt you would want to give me one, seeing as we will most likely not be making a contract.''

Ciel sighed. Again, why do these beings have to be so complicated? ''Fine, I'll call you...Alyssa, whatever.'' He said, remembering the name of his first Shetland Pony. The Earl vaguely wondered, amused, how Sebastian would react to him calling her this, considering that the butler had been named after Ciel's dog.

''Alright.'' The demoness said. ''You may call me that from now on if that is what you want. Now...about my payment... I don't think you would have anything that I might desire, other than your soul.'' She looked over the boy with a predatory look on her face, but he only ignored her. Odd...but interesting.

''Surely there must be something else here that you might want.'' Ciel said, remaining silent as she thought for a moment.

''You said before that your soul belongs to someone else.'' Alyssa said, looking at Ciel with a curious expression. ''That must mean you created a contract with another demon. Who was it?''

''I will tell you when you find a source of payment.'' Ciel said, crossing his arms, not at all afraid of this being in front of him. He knew how they worked, having observed Sebastian for so long. Demons toy with humans using their words in order to get what they desire, and Ciel would be having none of that tonight.

''I see...'' The demoness looked slightly irritated but otherwise remained neutral in her expression as she again pondered for a moment. ''Will you at least tell me where your contract mark was sealed?''

Ciel thought over the question for a moment before answering, finding no harm in it. ''My right eye.'' He said, bringing a hand up to touch his velvet eye patch.

''Give it to me.'' Alyssa said bluntly.

''No. Why?'' The Earl said, disgusted by the mere thought.

Alyssa didn't answer, glaring at the young boy before looking off and thinking again. She was beginning to think that coming here was just a huge waste of her time, not that she had anything better to do, she supposed. It wasn't like she was going to die anytime soon, or ever, actually. ''Perhaps something valuable to you then...that ring perhaps?'' She could sense that there was lot of energy lingering around the ring and could tell that it was something dear to him.

Ciel looked down at his family ring as he saw Alyssa look down at it in wanting. He made a fist with his hand, hiding it from her view. ''...No.''

Alyssa sighed. ''Well you _have _to give me something.''

''...The demon whom I contracted with used to reside here. Perhaps something of their's might be of value to you.'' Ciel said, feeling no guilt that he was practically selling off Sebastian's things. He wasn't here at the moment anyway; you snooze, you lose.

''...I am listening.''

''Then follow me.'' The Earl said and led Alyssa downstairs. He didn't have to worry about waking up anyone else in the house; Sebastian's room was down in the servant's quarters, next to Finny and Bard's rooms. Those two slept like rocks usually, only waking up in the dead of night when they realized something was wrong with the manor. He doubted they would wake up because of Alyssa, considering that she was with him and held no malicious intent...for now.

Alyssa followed Ciel into the room quietly, nose twitching as she picked up the faint scent of the demon who resided here. '_Male...around 5,000 years old...third layer..._' She thought to herself as Ciel shut the door behind her quietly.

''Well?'' Ciel asked, leaning against the closed door with his arms crossed, watching as Alyssa went to the center of the room and looked around. Ciel decided to do the same, briefly. Truth be told, this was only his second time in here and he hadn't stayed for long during his first visit. The room was plain, but spacious. There was a bed in the center, a wardrobe to the left against the wall, a desk to the right wall and a small fireplace next to that. There wasn't anything personal in the room, no paintings or homey touches, but Ciel hadn't expected there to be any.

Alyssa breathed in deeply, bringing her index finger up to her lip in thought. After a moment, she went over to the desk by the bed and opened a small door to a compartment on top of the desk, finding small drawers inside. She pulled out the second drawer and plucked out what was inside. She turned the pocket-watch in her hands this way and that, running her fingers over the unique design carved onto the front. The demoness brought it up to her nose and inhaled slowly. Yes, this was where the scent was the strongest. The male demon must have kept this on his person for a very long time in order to have it still be this strong after it's owner had been absent for a while.

The demoness ran a hand over the watch before squeezing it, a faint light shining from her fingertips. Ciel raised an eyebrow and blinked in confusion, but as quickly as the light appeared, it was gone. ''...Alyssa?''

''I will take this as payment.'' The demoness said simply, smirking down at the watch, her ponytail hiding her expression from the Earl.

''A pocket-watch? Why would you want that?'' Ciel asked. He knew that Sebastian at least had two of them, having seen him clean one of the watches before whilst still wearing one. So if that was all the demoness wanted, then he had no qualms about giving it to her.

''I have my reasons.'' Alyssa said, pressing a button on the side of the pocket-watch, seeing her own devious expression in the glass reflection. She wouldn't tell him that actually she had just preserved Sebastian's scent forever into the watch, using ancient demon magic. A demon's smell could tell another a lot about them. For example, Alyssa could tell immediately how old Sebastian was and what gender he belonged to just by his scent alone. If the scent was powerful enough, and if a demon had access to that scent for a extended period of time, that demon could distinguish personality traits, marital status and even guess the other demon's true name. If Alyssa could hold onto Sebastian's scent for a long time, she could figure out Sebastian's true name and then command him, by using the Ancient Language, to do anything she wished. She had already found out three other male demon's names through this method and kept them imprisoned as her personal subjugates.

''I see...Fine. You may have it.'' Ciel agreed, although he felt cautious for some reason. He knew that something suspicious was going on from the moment he saw that expression on her face. But he decided to let it go...for now.

''Now, back to the matter at hand. I need information about the demon that I was previously contracted to. His name is Sebastian Michaelis.'' Ciel said, walking further into the room as Alyssa sat down on the bed, making herself comfortable.

''Hm...I am guessing that you gave him that name. I have never heard of it before.'' She said, leaning back against Sebastian's pillows.

''Yes, I did.''

Alyssa tilted her head to the left. ''Did he have an animal form when he first appeared to you?''

''A crow.''

''Alright...'' Alyssa said, trying to think. The form a demon took when first appearing before a human for a contract depended upon that demon's personality. The animal they choose to portray themselves as was some what of a trademark in hell. From her long life of experience, Alyssa could only think of a few male demons that manifested as birds and lived in the third layer. ''You said that you and him were previously contracted, but are not so now. Why is that?''

Ciel was silent for a moment, looking off to the side of the room. ''I was forced into getting an exorcism.''

''Oh. Well that changes things.'' Alyssa said, closing her gold eyes. ''Let me guess; red eyes, black hair, one piece in the middle of his obnoxious face.'' She brought her hand up to her forehead and imitated the direction in which Sebastian's hair fell. Oh yes, she knew who he was: Suduire. He was the only demon who had been exorcised lately. She had witnessed his birth and had been there for both of his promotion ceremonies, the presence of an archdemon being necessary for both because of tradition. From the very moment he crawled out of his damned mother, Suduire had been nothing but a rebellious nuisance. Alyssa would take great pleasure in destroying him if she could get her hands on his true demon name.

''Yes. That's him.''

''So what exactly do you want to know about him?''

''I want to know exactly where Sebastian is and what he's been doing up until this point.'' Ciel said with an determined expression upon his face. He made a fist with his hand and showed it to her. ''He is my butler, my _servant, _and we have a deal to complete.''

''I see. Well,'' Alyssa started, running her claws over her new pocket-watch lightly. "'Sebastian' is in hell, obviously, and has been what you humans might call, 'demoted'."

''Demoted?'' Ciel said, raising an eyebrow.

''Yes. From a noble to a mere peasant, in your terms. He has been moved to the first layer of hell, a place for extremely low class demons.'' Alyssa ran her hands through her ponytail as she explained, feeling greatly amused that she was telling the boy just how far 'Sebastian' had fallen. ''He used to be very powerful, but your apparent slip up has reduced him to nothing but scum. He can't even reach the human realm from where he is.''

Ciel's eyes narrowed at the demoness but made no move to deny her words. They were true, after all. ''So what is he doing now?''

''He apparently made a deal with our Lord to come back up here to reform a contract with you. It was quite interesting. I have never heard of a demon who put his food before himself.'' Alyssa's golden eyes locked with Ciel's and a smirk came onto her lips. ''Although, now I can see why.''

Ciel didn't respond to her. '_So he has been trying to get back all this time?_' He thought, not knowing really what to think. He couldn't say that he was entirely surprised by this, seeing as Sebastian did promise him that he would be there, til the very end. But then again this was perplexing. Ciel knew that he wasn't the only human in the world. Sebastian could easily find another soul. '_So then why is he trying so hard?_ _Why does he care so much?_' Either way, Ciel should be happy; he was going to get his revenge. But for some reason he was more confused than anything else.

There was silence in the room for a few moments and Ciel looked up as Alyssa got up from the bed. She must be leaving, now that her deed is done. ''Wait. There is something else I need you to do. I require you to send a message to Sebastian for me.''

Alyssa looked at him with a dark expression in her eyes. ''You should know the rules by now.'' She practically hissed. ''Tit for tat. I do not do extra work without something in return.''

''Fine. Take whatever else you want from this room.'' Ciel said, closing his eyes and bringing a hand up to his forehead. Demons truly were irritating beings with all their annoying customs.

''...No.''

Ciel opened his eyes and looked up at Alyssa, who appeared to be much closer to him than she had been before.

''I've been thinking a little, and I began to wonder...why don't I just _eat you_ instead?'' Alyssa tucked the pocket-watch in the cavity between her breasts and cracked her knuckles threateningly. ''That way, I can take whatever I want after you're dead and be on my way.'' Ciel glared at her when she bore her fangs at him, licking her lips in hunger.

Her fingernails elongated in only an instant and before Ciel could even react, she disappeared from his vision. Ciel reached behind him and looked around the room, finding no trace of her. ''Hiding, are we?'' He taunted. ''I never knew a demon to be so scared.'' He heard movement to his right and quickly pulled out his gun from his back pocket and aimed to his left, pulling the trigger. He glared at the demoness before him, poised to shoot at her again. ''Next time I wont miss.'' He said angrily, pointing the gun in between her eyes.

Alyssa looked more entertained than scared as smoke from the gun faded away to the right of her head, a bullet stuck to the wall beside her temple. She had tried to fake him out with that noise to his right, a small tactic she used when hunting humans. They were usually so scared that they immediately aimed at the noise rather than at her, making them easy prey items. This boy though, didn't do that, he remained calm, and still was. His heartbeat remained steady in her ears, never going above normal pace.

''You do realize that you can not kill me, right? Especially not with that little toy.'' She asked, looking even more amused when Ciel didn't respond, only cocked his gun. ''So that is your answer?...Fine then.''

Ciel didn't even have time to shoot her before she had him pressed up against the wall behind him, her hand around his throat in a painful hold. The Earl coughed as her sharp talons drew blood from his neck. He grabbed hold of her wrist out of reflex and grit his teeth as he felt his hand burn from touching her hot flesh.

''I have never met a human like you.'' Alyssa said, running her free hand through his grey bangs. ''You still tried to kill me even though it was futile. Such pride you have.'' She commented, letting her hand drop from his hair. She wasn't even using an ounce of her real strength. How pathetic. ''No matter though. In the end you're just like any other human:'' She tightened her grip on his neck and leaned in close til their lips were almost touching. ''_Weak_.''

All of a sudden, Alyssa hissed and backed off of Ciel, a look of shock on her face. She brought a shaky hand up to her neck and growled when she felt blood coming from her jugular. Angry golden eyes glared at Ciel as the boy panted, a bloody dagger held firmly in his right hand. He lifted up his other arm and shot her in the forehead without a second thought.

''I told you I wouldn't miss.'' Alyssa heard the those words echo in her ears as she temporarily lost her vision, falling backwards onto the floor. She heard Ciel come over to her and opened her eyes to see him standing above her, an impassive look in his eyes as he pointed the gun at her bloody forehead.

At first, Alyssa just stared at him, a mixture of shock and anger on her face. That had been the first time that any human, _ever_, had managed to injure her. She looked off to the side, a smirk coming onto her lips before Ciel heard a sound that he never thought he would hear come from a demon. Alyssa was laughing, laughing evilly, but still laughing all the same.

She sat up quickly, uncaring that now Ciel's gun was pointed at her temple. She looked at him, amusement twinkling in her eyes. ''You have guts.'' She said and got up, dusting off the blood from her injuries, the wounds having been healed already. Ciel didn't respond to her and she chuckled, fixing her hair. ''I respect that. I have never been injured by a human before. You truly have a worthy soul.'' Again, the Earl didn't speak so she continued, ''I will send a message to that demon of yours, then. And I will take this as payment.'' Alyssa sauntered over to Sebastian's bed and pulled out a large trunk from under the bed with her feet. She heaved it up and smirked down at it, running her fingers over the old wood.

''Very well then.'' Ciel finally said, keeping his gun still poised at her. ''Tell him to hurry the fuck up. I am sick of waiting for him to stop fooling around. That is all. Now get out of my mansion.''

Alyssa smiled deviously at the young boy before waving her hand and fading away into the darkness, taking the trunk and pocket-watch with her. Ciel stayed where he was for a long while, just breathing deeply, trying to regain his composure. He lowered his gun slowly when he was positively certain she was gone and went over to Sebastian's bed. The Earl sat down, dropped his gun next to him and put his head into his hands, head filling up with thoughts about his butler.

He could almost hear the idiot chastise him for his behavior, '_You're quite like a little lost puppy sometimes. You know that, don't you?_'

''Shut up!'' Ciel said harshly to the silence of the room. The shock of what just happened and the hope that his butler was coming back to him was messing with his mind. He had almost thought, while he had been setting up the scrying ceremony, that he would hear news about Sebastian's death, or worse, that the butler didn't care about their agreement any longer. Now that he knew for certain that Sebastian was going to come back, he felt at ease for some reason. That he didn't have to worry about anything anymore. Sebastian always did that to him, made him feel like nothing could go wrong, that nothing would hurt him. Not that Ciel cared about that, he could take care of himself, as proved by that encounter with Alyssa. He didn't _need _Sebastian, but that didn't mean anything, because he _wanted_ Sebastian by his side. He would have no other demon help him, only Sebastian.

Only Sebastian.

Ciel looked up when he heard footsteps out in the hall, knowing that it was probably Finny and Bard. They must have been woken up by all the noise. The Earl sighed and got up, placing his gun back in it's hiding spot in his back pocket before going into the hall, already missing the faint scent of his butler that lingered in that bedroom.

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**Woah! I got kinda corny near the end...Sorry! *anime sweatdrop* But that's what happens when I listen to sad music and write at the same time. Ah well, I hope you enjoyed! I know it's actually a lot shorter than all the others, and there is no Bassy, but I wanted to focus on Ciel in this chapter. So yup. **

**Anyways guys, only one chapter left! I feel kinda sad that it's gonna end, but also excited. This'll be the first multi-chap fic that I've finished! I usually get lost and forget to update, so thank my crazy editor for making me stick with this! Luv you bestie! **

**So yea, response to reviewers:**

**Paxloria, wow...you really want that guy to die, huh? XD Well no, as I said before, we don't ever see that priest guy again, so there will be no bloody revenge...at least in what I'm gonna write. I'm sure Bassy would kill the guy off screen somewhere later, lawl XD**

**Starshine and Promocat, Lol, no, Claude isn't cool enough to take Alyssa's part. But thanks for guessing anyways :3**

**Lastly, Alice, I hope you're happy because this chapter is nothing but Ciel. You got your wish :D **

**So yea, as always, here's another random short! Please review guys and have a good day! Luv you all!**

**~Migoto Nami**

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**~Random Short!~ As written by my editor, A Midnight's Dream!(We've been trading off on writing these recently, I did the last one)**

"Oh dear Satan in Hell..." Sebastian quietly muttered to himself as he looked at the array of sanitary napkins that stocked the shelves. For crying out loud why did _he _have to be the one to retrieve these sorts of things? Then he remembered: this was his job. Normally that excuse was enough to focus him on his duties, but this was simply too much! "_Honestly, Mey-rin_" he thought, "_No. Human beings in _general _have such disgusting bodily functions._"

And they had the gall to call it _"The Curse"_. He scoffed. If they had any idea what happened to female _demons_ every month, they wouldn't be complaining...on second thought, maybe putting up with this whole _period_ nonsense wasn't all that bad...

"Can I help you find anything sir?" Came a feminine voice by his elbow.

He turned and found a Walmart Health and Body clerk standing behind him in her blue over shirt. She was a stooped over, wrinkled old lady with a dried up, puckered mouth. "Yes." Sebastain answered, rather annoyed, and removed a folded up piece of paper from his trouser pocket. "Do you know where I might find some..._Tampax Pearl Tampons_?" He asked reading off the piece of paper as if he had not a single idea what that was.

The older woman had to suppress a large grin as she pointed him down the adjacent aisle.

"Thank you." Sebastian said, before stepping around her to head to the aisle indicated. But in the aisle he found no such product labeled _Tampax_ or anything of the sort. Losing his patience, Sebastian reached up and grabbed something else off the shelf that he thought would suffice.

"'_Depends_'..." He said to himself as he made his way over to the Electronics section. "...Sounds like a reliable brand."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Black Butler belongs to Yana Toboso. If I owned Sebastian...let's just say he would never leave my bedroom. Ever. He'd be my little sex slave...ahem...yea. **

**I didn't make the picture for the story*troll face***

**Again, landscape was inspired from FFXIII-2's terrain and some attacks inspired from there as well.**

**Songs Used When Writing: Gargan Roo from FFIX, Sis Puella Magica(Instrumental Version) from Madoka Magica, Baba Yetu from Civilization IV, Let It Grow(Credits) from the Lorax**

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The sound of his shoes crackling against metal was the only thing Sebastian could hear as he trecked onward through the metallic wasteland of Invio. This land was a great hunting spot, it's cliffs offering excellent hiding places for demons to surprise their prey. Metal walkways had been made across ravines to make traversing the land much easier for younger demons, this being the ideal spot for them to practice hunting until they acquired their wings. Sebastian could remember faintly the days in which he used to hunt here as well, and a feeling of nostalgia went through him as he ran through the metal tunnel ways, faithful presuls watching over him.

There were no demonlings here to disturb Sebastian as he searched the land, all the demons of this generation already having grown up. The butler was entirely grateful for this. Younger demons only caused trouble, and were annoying as hell. Plus, it granted him the ability to relax and think.

Sebastian had began pondering that perhaps, maybe Ciel wasn't worth it. Especially if he managed to find a huge hellstone. If he kept the hellstone to himself, he could move up in rank faster, gain his presuls back and his reputation too. Satan would be angered at him, sure, but he doubted that he would kill the butler. Satan found it amusing when demons did something he wasn't expecting, and also, the Devil only brought up the deal to entertain himself anyway. His scepter was perfectly fine, if that shock that he gave Sebastian earlier was anything to go by.

If Sebastian gave his Lord the hellstone, he would get to have Ciel's soul... but then what? Souls helped to strengthen a demon, yes, but it only went so far. After he ate, he would probably be forced to come back to Hell, considering that first layer demons aren't allowed in the human realm. So what would he really be getting out of this deal? The other option seemed more favorable, but yet, Sebastian felt torn. He knew that he should just do what was best for himself and keep the hellstone, and yet he was doubting himself, and it irritated him to no end. Ciel was just a measly human, he shouldn't matter... but he did, in more ways than one.

Sebastian shook his head, once again banishing those thoughts to the back of his mind and focusing on his task. Either way, he could accomplish nothing unless he found that hellstone first. It had been nearly five days since Satan had given him the offer, and he had found at least three hellstones, which was a miracle in itself. The biggest one though, was only about the size of his head, and he knew that he could never present his Lord with such a small gift. He would have to find something bigger...and soon. Time was running out.

The butler focused his attention to his nose, honing in on the unique scent that he had been following. It was the reason he had come up here in the first place. The scent of this particular hellstone was hard to describe, it being a mix of copper, metal and something else that Sebastian couldn't place. All hellstones smelled this way, and the demon always felt a thrill of excitement go through him whenever he sensed one, knowing that his abilities would be strengthened once he found the stone.

Sebastian could smell a different scent all of a sudden. It smelled like his young master for some reason and the demon stopped abruptly. He looked off to his right, where a female archdemon stood proudly upon a high rock. She hadn't been there a second ago, but that didn't surprise him. Demons always appeared randomly in front of each other.

''Hello Suduire.'' The female purred, placing a hand on her hip and staring down at him with a smug smirk on her face.

''…Hello Taetra.'' Sebastian said, frowning. The butler watched, uninterested, as Vigil lowered his claws in respect towards Taetra and Videns quietly landed down to his left, for once staying quiet. Archdemons commanded respect from lower class demons, but Sebastian was in no mood to act that way towards the female. She smelled like his young master for some reason, and this angered him greatly. ''Why do you smell of my previous contractee?''

''So you noticed.'' Alyssa said, running her clawed hand through her hair. ''Your nose really must be as good as they say...Hm...'' She shrugged, placing her hands on her hips. ''He and I...made a deal of sorts. He even gave me a name, 'Alyssa'. It is by far more respectable than the one he gave you.''

Sebastian quietly growled to himself as she said this. '_What? Did the young master...make another contract?_' The very thought made his gut twist with jealousy. '_No...demons can not return to the Underworld whilst under contract._' He reminded himself quickly. _'If they had made a contract, then Taetra would not be standing before me._'

''Anyway,'' The demoness interrupted his thoughts. ''I have come to deliver a message from him, he gave me this as payment.'' The butler didn't comment as he saw Alyssa drew attention to the trunk by her feet. It was his, a portal was hidden inside of the old wooden box that led to the human realm from Hell and vice versa. It was pretty handy, not to mention old, but it wasn't entirely necessary for him to have, only a shortcut between dimensions. He supposed he could let her have it, then. He was, however, slightly irritated that his young master would just give his things away.

''A message?'' Sebastian asked, curious as to what his master would have to say.

Alyssa smirked and tossed her hair over her shoulder smugly. ''Yes. He said, in these exact words:'' She cleared her throat for dramatic effect. ''Hurry the fuck up. That is all.''

Sebastian's eyebrow twitched at the ungrateful message. '_That brat..._' He thought to himself, irritated. '_Does he even realize how much I am doing just to get back there?_' A part of him though, couldn't help but feel slightly proud of his master for being able to get this far on his own. It wasn't easy to come out alive from an encounter with an archdemon, after all. '_So it appears that you_ can _do things without me, master..._' He smirked to himself.

''Alright, I thank you for passing on the message.'' The butler said and she chuckled.

''Oh, you're more than welcome.'' She said, sarcastically, turning around to leave. ''Oh and one more thing, Suduire.'' Alyssa peered at him from over her shoulder, a smirk on her lips. ''You best move your ass, because if you don't get back to him soon, someone else might just snatch him away.''

Sebastian glared at her back but otherwise didn't react as the demoness left. There was a silence for a few moments after the archdemon departed, before it was broken by Videns.

''Well...she was a bitch...'' The lion chimera scoffed, tail twitching.

''She always is.'' Sebastian said, sighing.

''And always has been.'' Vigil chimed in quietly as the demon butler lead the group out once more in search of that hellstone.

* * *

Sebastian didn't know whether to be disturbed or very confused when he saw what was waiting for him up ahead. It was typical for hellstones to be guarded by trials, such as powerful monsters or dangerous terrain, but never had he encountered an obstacle such as this. Before him stood a being that he had never seen before, or would have liked to see in his lifetime.

A large dragon stood before the demon and his two presuls. Bones were protruding out from it's ribcage and other parts of it's large winged body that for some reason had an odd number of seven wings attached to it's back. It's tail seemed to be cut off near the middle and only bones remained for the end of the appendage. The dragon's neck was split into two heads, which weren't really heads. They appeared to be human bodies, from the stomach upwards. The bodies were a hellish white and had no eyes. Their eyes rested in the palms of their hands, which they put up to their faces, creating the illusion that their eyes were on their face. The human mouths had only jagged spikes for teeth and the two 'heads' of the dragon grinned down at him as Sebastian brought a hand to his head, sighing. What a grotesque, disgusting creature.

''You are gross.'' Videns said, ever the blunt character.

''Well how rude.'' One of the dragon 'heads' said.

''I declare, what an attitude.'' Said the other, before they both laughed at each other, their combined chuckling further annoying Sebastian.

''I have not seen you around here before.'' Vigil said, trying to be nice to the creature. It was guarding the stone that his master needed, after all.

''Well no one ever comes up here.'' The right head said.

''They all tremble with fear.'' Commented the left.

''I can see why.'' Videns laughed. The lion chimera flew up to be eye level with the dragon heads. ''You certainly are no prize to look at.''

''Enough.'' Sebastian stated and the lion smirked before landing down next to his master. The butler cleared his throat before taking a step forward, the two dragon heads coming down to look at the demon more closely. ''I know that you are hiding a hellstone.'' As soon as he had found the dragon, the scent of the hellstone disappeared, and he could not determine where it was for some reason. ''Give it to me, and I will think about not killing you.''

There was a silence for a moment and the two heads only looked at each other. All of a sudden, they threw their hands up in laughter, revealing the patch of white skin where their eyes should have been.

''_You_, kill _us_?'' The right head asked, laughing.

''That's quite preposterous!'' The left one choked out.

The two heads chuckled some more and Sebastian growled, fangs bared. He had had ENOUGH of being ridiculed.

''Little demon, you are so weak and small!''

''Certainly a little princess at the ball!''

''In fact,_ we _should kill _you_!''

''Yes, into a funny stew!''

''Then we might have use for you!'' They both cackled, infuriating Sebastian.

The butler, in a fit of rage, reached out and violently tore one of the head's arms from it's sockets before it could blink it's ugly eyes. He moved to do the same to the other head but the dragon retracted in fear.

''Ow!'' The bleeding head exclaimed, blood running down from it's shoulders.

''I say! How?'' The dragon was obviously surprised by Sebastian's speed. His swiftness surpassed most demons in the third layer and was very useful indeed.

''Tell me where you are keeping the hellstone.'' Sebastian hissed, calm facade gone. He was at his wit's end. He held the severed arms up in his tight grip, threatening to beat the dragon with them. Sharp bones had been pulled out from the arm sockets and would make excellent weapons for Sebastian to let out his frustration with.

The two heads looked at each other again. Well, one looked at the other, seeing as the head Sebastian just injured didn't have it's eyes any longer.

''The way to the stone is down one of these caves.'' The dragon moved to the side, revealing two dark tunnels behind where he just stood.

''But be warned, one is your grave.'' Sebastian was silent as he listened tentatively to what the dragon had to say. It appeared that it didn't want to fight with him, which was odd. Usually the monsters guarding the stones explained where the stone lay hidden then fought him to the death, but that was not the case here.

''One of them leads to the stone.''

''The other leads to an immediate death zone.'' The two heads chuckled to each other, making a sort of 'ooooo' sound, like something a ghost would do.

''Immediate death zone...'' Vigil repeated, not liking the sound of that. He certainly didn't want his master taking the wrong path. There were a number of things he could think of that could be waiting for Sebastian if he went the wrong way. There were not a lot of things that could kill a demon, especially in the human realm, but here in Hell, it was entirely possible.

''Which one is which?'' Videns asked, dragon tail waving back in forth, genuinely interested in what the heads had to say. It sounded like a challenge, and the lion certainly loved challenges.

''The demon may only ask one of us.''

''One question, thus.''

''I may ask only one of you one question about the paths.'' Sebastian pondered, there had to be some catch here. It wouldn't be that easy.

''Aye, but know this, one of us always lies.''

''And one of us, the truth they advise.''

''That's all?'' Videns asked, frowning. ''That's easy.'' Videns was much older than Sebastian and Vigil combined, and he could easily spot the answer. ''It's-''

''Presuls can not answer here.''

''Only to demons do we lend an ear.'' The dragon snarled before Videns could talk. The lion presul hissed at the ugly creature but didn't say anything more.

''Master...'' Vigil said, looking upon Sebastian, who brought an index finger up to his lip in thought. To be honest, the scorpion didn't have any idea what the answer could be; two ways, one leading to death, the other to the stone, only one question could be asked to one head about the stones location and one of the heads always lies, the other always tells the truth. It was a hard riddle indeed and the presul couldn't begin to even think of what question would work in this situation.

Sebastian sighed and threw the dragon's bloody arms behind him uncaringly. How utterly annoying this riddle was, but then again, how fascinating. He had never encountered a trial like this. The best obstacle that he had ever encountered for a hellstone was a giant, and he went down easily enough after Sebastian figure out it's weak-spot. This trial was certainly different, and Sebastian had a good idea that the stone was probably going to be worth quite a lot. He couldn't wait to get his hands on it.

'_But what question do I ask?_' He pondered, demon tail swaying behind him as he glanced at the tunnels. '_The question would be something that, no matter which one I asked, I would get the same answer...hm._'

''Are you really this dense?'' Videns asked, yawning and stretching his bird talons out in front of him. ''Come on, it's not that hard.''

''Videns, stop being so disrespectful to our master.'' Vigil scolded, swatting at the lion with one of his pinchers.

'_Should I ask...no. How about...no, that won't work either._' The demon expertly tuned out the presul's fighting, having had lots of practice doing so because of the Phantomhive servants and their constant, pointless chatter. The two dragon heads were silent as the demon pondered for a few moments before the butler stepped forward towards them, an answer ready.

''Alright...you.'' Sebastian addressed the dragon head that wasn't all torn and bloody. The human-like head lowered itself so that it could better hear the demon's question.

''Which way...'' Sebastian looked to the other dragon head that he wasn't talking to. ''would he tell me to go to get to the stone?''

The dragon head was silent for a moment. ''...Right.''

The demon butler nodded before turning around and heading down the left path. Vigil and Videns quickly ran to catch up with their master and Vigil called out to Sebastian in confusion. ''Master, why are we going the left way? He said to go right.''

''Exactly.'' Videns answered before Sebastian could as they ran down the left path. ''You actually figured it out, Suduire. I am impressed.''

''But I don't get it.'' Vigil pressed and Sebastian stopped for a moment, hearing something breathing further down the path. He took this brief opportunity to rest a bit, mentally preparing himself for what he guessed would be a hard battle to get that hellstone.

''I asked that question, knowing that I would get the same answer no matter whom I asked.'' Sebastian explained, sharpening his talons on a nearby piece of scrap metal. ''If I had asked the one who always lied, he would lie and tell me the exact opposite of what the other the other head, the one who always tells the truth, would say.'' Vigil was silent as he tried to make sense of the answer. ''Similarly, if I asked the one who always told the truth, he would tell the truth; exactly what the other head would say to me, a lie about which way I should take. In either case, they would both respond the same way, which was the right path, which leads to 'immediate death', and I would go the other way.''

''I see...'' Vigil said, still a bit confused.

''Think on it some more.'' Videns said, preparing himself for a fight as well. ''You'll get it eventually...I hope.''

The scorpion snapped it's pinchers at the lion but didn't say anything more as Sebastian led them to the end of the path, where the hellstone awaited.

* * *

Sebastian felt his mouth becoming his signature smirk involuntarily as he finally saw what awaited him. A magnificent blue hellstone stood at the end of the path. It had to be probably about three times his own height and width, which was more than enough to please Satan.

Sebastian stood on top of a rather large piece of metal, looking down at the hellstone before him. The path ended in a single piece of land that was surrounded by water, the hellstone resting in the middle. Sebatian cautiously climbed down the small cliff to make it towards the hellstone. He wasn't stupid, he knew this was an obvious trap, and he also could tell that his presuls sensed it too, but he wouldn't give up. Not now. Not when he was so close to his young master.

''Are you sure this is wise, master?'' Vigil asked as Sebastian walked closer to the stone.

''...Yes.'' Was all Sebastian responded as Videns cautiously sniffed the air, hair standing on end.

''It is coming, I can smell it.'' The lion chimera warned and Sebastian went over to Vigil, taking the scorpion tail into his hand and pulling at the barbed tip. The demon butler yanked until eventually, a large staff came out of the scorpion tail, both ends having barged tips like Vigil's tail. The staff was also black and was coated in deadly poison on both ends.

The scorpion presul shook his tail once the spear was out and another, more deadly stinger appeared on the end. It had barbs in all directions instead of just the normal scorpion tail. Sebastian turned to the scorpion and gripped his staff, reciting a few words in demon tongue before thrusting the weapon towards Videns. A large thunderbolt crashed down onto the lion chimera and he howled in pain for a second before growling, ready for the fight to come. The thunderbolt had been a spell to enhance Videns' attack power and infuse his claws and teeth with the element of electricity. It was obvious that the creature guarding the hellstone would be water based, and what better way to beat a water monster than with electricity?(Basic pokemon logic, derp XD)

Videns' claws and teeth were a sizzling color purple and seemed to radiate with the very element of lightning. Yes, he was ready to fight. Sebastian turned to his scorpion and cast the same spell on him, infusing his tail and pinchers with the same color purple. Lastly, Sebastian cast the spell one last time on himself, making his staff, talons and teeth shine.

Then, there was silence as Sebastian calmly walked towards the hellstone. He wasn't even able to touch it before the ground started to shake. Sebastian twisted his staff in front of him defensively when the shaking abruptly stopped and something gigantic burst through the water in front of him.

**[Insert here a battle theme of you choosing. I suggest the Tentalus Battle Theme from Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword cuz that is what I listened to whilst writing this :])**

Master, lion and scorpion were all momentarily stunned by the humungous creature in front of them, much like they were when they saw the two 'headed' dragon, having never seen anything like it before in their long lives. It had to be at least the size of three of Ciel's mansions stacked on top each other, and five times the width. The being had the head of an crocodile, which had two large, sharp gills protruding from either side of it's cranium. It stood on it's hind legs, only showing it's torso and part of it's shark-like tail above the water. It had four large breasts on it's chest that ended in tentacles for some reason and hundreds of lobster legs holding it's body upright, two huge, snapping pinchers acting as it's arms. The whole monster was covered in sharp looking spikes and dark green crocodile scales. It reared up and let out a terrifying scream and bit at the tiny speck of land that the three were standing on.

Sebastian and Videns quickly took to the sky whilst Vigil curled into a ball, turning the color blue. It was a spell that offered the ultimate defense against any attack, but only for a brief while. Usually monsters could not preform spells, but since Vigil was a presul, Sebastian had given him a small part of his own magic power, as he did with every one of his presuls.

The water creature snarled and snapped, angered that it couldn't hurt the scorpion. It thrust it's head sideways at the island, mouth open and Sebastian growled angrily when the stupid creature swallowed his precious hellstone.

''It will not take long for it to digest the stone.'' Videns said to his master as the monster swallowed. It's stomach acid was probably outrageously strong, considering the being's size. ''We must make haste.''

''Yes.'' Sebastian said. ''Take care of it's eyes for me.'' Once a monster's sight was out of the way, it was easier to take down.

''Can do.''

''Vigil, help Videns.'' Sebastian commanded whilst dodging a pinch from the monster's claws.

''Yes.'' Vigil responded as he ended his spell. He swung his tail around in a circular motion, just like a cowboy before throwing his tail forward, the barbed end detaching and flying towards the crocodile, the only thing connecting the barb to Vigil being an extremely long piece of stretchy muscle. The scorpion twisted its tail to the right, expertly aiming the barbed end at the crocodile's eye. It struck the home, sending an electrical current through the fleshy piece of muscle.

The crocodile shook it's head, nearly whacking Videns, who had tried to attack it's other eye. The monster shrieked and twisted it's body, rearing up it's torso and sending it's tentacles out towards the scorpion. Vigil saw it coming and tried to use the protection spell again but he wasn't fast enough. The tentacles wrapped around his hard plated body, shocking him. Vigil snapped at the tentacles with his claws as he withered in pain, trying to dislodge them.

The crocodile monster moved to slam one of it's pinchers down at Vigil. Sebastian saw this and slammed his barbed spear into the joint that connected it's lobster arm to the rest of it's body. The electrical spell from before sent a current around the joint as Sebastian twisted his weapon and dug deeper into the muscle, eventually ripping the joint and sending the lobster arm into the water. A huge wave crashed onto the small island, hurting Vigil more because of the tentacles' electricity mixing with the liquid.

Sebastian twirled his spear above his head, causing it to turn white. He threw the weapon at the tentacles, cutting them and also electrocuting the crocodile's chest in the process. The monster howled louder as it's tentacles turned black and fell into the water. It turned around and tried to whack Sebastian with it's shark tail, but the butler flew out of the way, catching his fallen spear in the process.

In the meantime, Videns was trying to get to the creature's other eye, which the monster stubbornly refused to open. The eye was protected because of the crocodile's hard scales and the lion chimera could no harm it, not even with lightning infused into his claws. Eventually he gave up and flew down to the water, perching his bird feet on top. Videns breathed in deeply and tensed his back, the air around him swirling before he roared and tossed his head towards the sky, causing lightning bolts to rain down into the water.

The monster screeched as it's whole body was electrocuted. Sebastian used the distraction to land next to Vigil, who was extremely bloody and covered in burn marks from the electric tentacles. Sebastian touched his hand to the scorpion, whispering a small spell. The scorpion glowed green for a few seconds and Sebastian took to the skies again just as Vigil's wounds started to heal themselves at an alarmingly quick pace.

The scorpion dislodged it's barbed tail from the crocodile and the creature finally opened it's good eye to look around. Videns didn't waste any time in flying up and scratching the monster eye to shreds. Sebastian also took this opportunity to try and dislodge the other lobster arm. Vigil helped him by throwing his barbed tail at the muscled joint. The crocodile would have none of that and it turned around again, throwing Sebastian off. It opened it's mouth, hissing, and the butler was confused to find another hidden eye.

Sebastian was stunned momentarily when the eye's iris melted away and morphed into a human shape, a very familiar human shape. It was his master. The small boy was tied to the white part of the eye because of blue veins that ran throughout the crocodile's mouth.

''Sebastian.'' The young boy hissed, startling the demon butler. ''What are you doing? You call yourself my butler? How dare you leave me you pathetic, worthless being.'' 'Ciel' roared at Sebastian, who couldn't help the slight look of hurt in his eyes.

''I am trying, my Lord.'' A small part of him knew that this was an illusion, but he sounded so much like his master that it was terrifying.

''Don't bother. I can take care of myself. I don't need nor want you back. I hate you!'' Sebastian didn't even try to move out of the way, as 'Ciel' threw his hands out in front of him, tentacles shooting out of the eye and wrapping around the demon. The tentacles electrocuted Sebastian before throwing him against a nearby cliff.

Sebastian coughed as a sharp piece of rock ripped into his back, blood coming out of his mouth. He vaguely heard Vigil call out to him before he felt himself falling down through the air towards the still electrified water below. Those words hurt him more than any attack ever could. He knew that the image hadn't been real, but it still stung to think of the possibility that those words might have been true.

Sebastian startled when a long muscle wrapped around his body. The demon barely registered it as Vigils tail as the scorpion pulled him back to the island before he could touch the deadly water filled with lightning.

The crocodile hissed and went to swing at Sebastian and Vigil with it's lobster claw, but it only howled in pain when Videns finished what the two had already started. The lion ripped the joint of the lobster arm apart with his claws, sending it into the water.

The monster hissed and opened it's mouth to attack Videns like it had Sebastian, but the lion chimera tensed his whole body and growled, the air swirling once again. The lion chimera preformed another spell, this time sending lightning bolts from his mouth into the crocodile's mouth. This barbequed the monsters insides and it howled and scratched at itself before eventually the current made it's way to it's heart, stopping the beat and sending the monster falling on it's side into the water, dead.

**[Ding Dong the witch is dead! You can stop the battle music now :3]**

The lion chimera made quick work of tearing into the monster's dead underbelly and burrowing inside as Vigil let out a sigh of relief. ''Are you alright master?'' The presul asked, untangling it's tail from the demon butler.

"Yes, I'm quite fine." Sebastian reassured, dusting off his clothes. Though in truth he wasn't entirely fine. He knew what he'd seen in that monster's disgusting maw was nothing more than an illusion. He knew that. Then why...why did that image's word's strike him so hard? '_Could this be part of the illusion?_' Sebastian thought to himself. Still, illusion or not, the very idea of his master being ungrateful after all he'd done to return to him was enough to make Sebastian question whether all he'd done up until this point was really worth it. As a matter of fact, he considered this the pivotal moment for him to decide what he must do: Should he just keep this hellstone, and there by promote himself at least two layers in hell? Or should he give the stone to Satan so that he may return to the side of his young lord, and have to deal with the hectic chores, his master's demanding tenancies, and the servant's idiocy and quarreling?

In truth, he didn't really hate living at the Phantomhive Manor...when the servants weren't acting like complete lunatics. The butler actually found it entertaining most of the time, especially the missions that he and his master went on together. Life there wasn't so bad, but was it really worth giving up everything that he had gained for himself in Hell? For the first time in his life, Sebastian was unsure of what he should do next.

The butler looked to his left when he heard flapping to see Videns place the hellstone in front of his master. The stone was wet, the lion chimera having dunked it in the now lightning-free water a second ago. Videns took this opportunity to dunk himself in a clean patch of water, getting all the guts and things out of his fur.

Sebastian saw his own reflection in the stone, and silently stared at his own puzzled expression, thinking to himself. Videns emerged from the water after a moment and perched himself on top of the stone.

''If you touch this, you will gain enormous power, but if you don't want to, I'll fly it to Satan's realm.'' The butler looked at his lion presul quietly before looking back at the stone.

''It's up to you, master.'' Vigil encouraged quietly at his side, seeing his master's inner struggle.

The demon was silent for a time before he sucked in a breathe and walked to the stone, reaching his hand out toward it...

* * *

Ciel knocked over his black sheep figurine with his pencil. He held his chin up with his left palm, elbow on his desk as he poked the poor sheep boredly. It had been eight days in total since Lizzy's birthday, the night Sebastian disappeared. Things had been quiet, too quiet in fact, and not to mention boring. With Agni here, the servants were their usual destructive selves for a few days, but then the Indian butler had managed to get them to do their jobs without destroying anything, a rare feat indeed. But Agni had done this once before, so Ciel couldn't say that he was surprised that his servants were behaving so well.

Other than Soma occasionally bothering him at random points during the day, Ciel was left with his work, ALL THE TIME. Sebastian wasn't here to distract him with his little quips and since the servants were quiet, it just made this place even more dull. Never before had the Earl gotten so much work done, it was so quiet. Hell, he had even started doing the work for next month because he had been so bored.

Ciel sighed, just what was taking that demon so long anyway? Sebastian was taking so long, in fact, that the blue-eyed boy was growing extremely irritated and was also, deep down, beginning to question if Sebastian would come back at all. Alyssa obviously had to have passed on that message. They made a deal after all, but even if she didn't follow through and tell Sebastian, it probably wouldn't change anything. The archdemon _had_ said that Sebastian was working to get back even before Ciel sent that message, and what real reason would she have to lie? She had to be telling the truth: Sebastian was coming back to him, right? He had to be...

The Earl pushed those thoughts from his mind, not wanting to think about this anymore. He rubbed his temples in an attempt to quell his irritation. He heard a knock on the door and didn't even look up, knowing that it was just Agni with his dinner. Ciel had requested it in here because he wanted to be alone. In fact, he had been doing that a lot lately, locking himself in his study. The Earl could tell that it was making his servants worried, but he honestly didn't care right now. He just wanted to be alone with his thoughts. ''Come in.''

The door opened quietly and Ciel grabbed one of his papers on his desk, his lone cerulean eye scanning its contents. He sighed as the quiet clinks and clanks of silverware was heard to his left. ''What is there tonight, Agni?'' Ciel asked in an uninterested voice as he read over a few sentences of the letter.

''_For tonight's dinner we have smoked mackerel with gooseberry sauce and a cottage pie for dessert._''

Ciel's one visible eye widened and he dropped his papers instantly, standing up and looking at the other occupant in the room. ''Sebastian!'' He exclaimed, surprised.

His butler smiled at the Earl, placing a plate on the desk before the young boy. ''Good evening, my lord. I am glad to see that you are doing alright after my extended absence.''

''You...'' Was all Ciel could think to say, stunned. All of a sudden, his office doors were thrown open and Soma pointed at Sebastian.

''See! I told you I saw him, I did not lie!'' The Indian prince exclaimed and the household's servants all but ran into the room towards the butler.

''Mr. Sebastian, you're back!'' Finny said happily.

''Just where have you been all this time?'' Bard asked, genuinely curious.

''I apologize for my sudden disappearance.'' Sebastian said, usual polite smile in place. ''I had some business to take care of.''

''Sebastian, it has been a while, my friend.'' Agni said as he came into the room, having been confused about his misplaced dinner that he had prepared for Ciel.

''That it has, Agni. I thank you for taking care of everything in my absence.'' Sebastian said, placing a hand over his heart and bowing to the Indian in gratitude.

Agni laughed and then put his hands together, bowing back to Sebastian in return. ''Think nothing of it. I was happy to help.''

Soma walked forward and slapped a hand on his butler's back. ''Anything for our English friends, right Agni? Besides, I could never say no to staying with my little brother.'' The prince said, grinning at Ciel.

''Yes, Prince Soma.'' The Indian butler nodded and bowed his head slightly to his master.

''Sebastian, I kept all the trees looking healthy while you were gone!'' Finny exclaimed before the room could go quiet. He was sincerely glad to have everyone back at the manor, as if their little family had come back together again.

''I only dropped about two plates, yes I did!'' Mey-rin said, not wanting to be outdone by Finny. She had worked hard to make everything shine for when the man of her dreams came back, after all.

''Well I only blew up the kitchen seven times.'' Bard said, looking smug. It was new record for him, of course; only seven times in eight days. The usual number had always been somewhere in the double digits.

''Ho, Ho, Ho.''

Ciel watched quietly as everyone welcomed his butler back warmly, never taking his eyes off of Sebastian. This all felt like a dream, yet there he stood, a black shadow like always. He didn't know what to feel at the moment; Relieved? Happy? Angry? Crimson colored eyes locked onto his and the young Earl looked away, glaring at one of the books on his desk as he sat down in his chair.

Eventually, Sebastian ushered everyone out of the room, promising to answer all questions after the Earl finished his meal. Once they were alone, Sebastian stood before Ciel's desk and bowed deeply.

''My lord, I am deeply sorry for my absence these past few days. It was not my intention.''

Ciel was quiet as he stared at his butler. He knew that none of this had been the demon's fault. It was his own. If he hadn't been so stupid as to let his aunt preform that exorcism, than none of this would have happened. After a moment of silence, Ciel scoffed and looked away. ''Well if I were you, I would certainly be embarrassed.''

Sebastian stood up quietly, one eyebrow raised and signature smirk in place. ''Oh?''

''We are never to speak of this again, understood?'' Ciel got up from his chair angrily and walked around his desk, facing his butler. ''Just reform the contract, and I will think about not reprimanding you.''

Sebastian chuckled and smirked down at the boy, ''You know, you could just say that you missed me, my Lord. There is no need to be angry.''

Ciel's expression went from annoyed to enraged in one second and he grabbed his butler's tie, pulling Sebastian down to his eye level. ''_Me_ miss _you_? Heh, don't make me laugh!'' He released Sebastian with a shove. The demon brought his index finger up to his lip, trying to quell his chuckles.

"You dare to make fun of me, Sebastian?" Ciel asked, his voice rising slightly from irritation at the demon's chuckling.

"Not at all, young master. I merely meant that absence tends to make the heart grow fonder." Sebastian finished with his signature smile.

Ciel's high cheek bones tinted a faint pink, but he swiftly averted his gaze; choosing instead to glare at the adjacent book shelf. "Whatever..." The young Earl reached up and undid the not tying his eye patch to his head. "Just get on with the contract will you?"

Sebastian's crimson eyes showing mischief as he took off his left glove with his teeth before reaching out and grabbing the boy's waist. He tugged the Earl towards him and leaned in close, cupping Ciel's eye with his left hand. The demon licked the boy's ear, smirking when he felt a shiver run down his master's body. Dear Satan how he had he missed that flavor, his scent. So rich and pungent and delicious, it sent a spark of desire and hunger through the demon butler. Sebastian focused his attention on his left hand, concentrating his magic there as he whispered into the boy's ear:

''…Yes, my lord.''

* * *

**OMG YAY! Finally done! I don't know whether I wanna jump in joy or cry. I hope you guys enjoyed, because I certainly had a blast writing it. :D I know I left a few things open, like if Alyssa was actually going to figure out Bassy's name and all that, but I wanted to leave that up to your imagination. I might consider writing a sequel, but only if I can figure out a plot and if I get a lot of feedback of people saying they want one. I have another fanfic in mind that's full out bassyxciel and I might write that one first if I can actually figure out the plot and such.**

**Welp, no one really asked me anything in reviews, so I have no replies to write here, but know that I love every single one of you guys that read this and reviewed, you rock my socks. So here's some magical computer cookies that Bassy made! *passes out nummy cookies* :D Enjoy his demon sweetness! He's such a lamb, I love him :3**

**One last time, please review and let me know what you guys thought :3 I haven't got a lot of experience with fight scenes, so plz give me some feedback if you didn't find it enjoyable or anything. I'm still learning, and constructive criticism is welcome :3 And yea, I would really like it if you guys also let me know your thoughts on my monsters throughout the story. I did my best to make em creepy and stuffs :]**

**So yea, have a good day, and here's the last random short, which is longer than the rest, to celebrate the completion of this fic! To be honest, it isn't really all that random, or short in fact...uh...anyways enjoy! :D Love you all!**

**~Migoto Nami**

* * *

~Random Short That Is Kind Of Like An Epilogue But Not Really?...~**(Song used is Outrageous by Britney Spears)**

Sebastian sighed as he prepared for the next day by making his master's breakfast. Things were beginning to return to the way it once was. Agni and Soma were leaving tomorrow and everything would go back to 'normal', more or less.

Ciel had given him only one order as punishment for leaving his side: Go along with all of the servants crazy antics and don't reprimand them at all for one day and one night. Sebastian was sure that there was something else hidden beneath that order, but he didn't question his master and did as he was told, though he kept on edge. It wasn't like his master to make an order without a reason.

The demon frowned and looked at the clock: eleven p.m. If he finished making breakfast fast enough, he would have time to find his precious cat in the garden and play with her before the sun rose. How he longed to hold her soft body to his, caressing her fur and rubbing her soft ears. Ah, how he had missed her while he had been in Hell...uh, I mean Ciel...yea. He had missed Ciel...that's it.

The demon butler was brought out of his musings when he heard someone quietly walk into the kitchen, trying to be sneaky. It sounded like two people and they were cautiously approaching behind him. Sebastian frowned and turned around. ''Bardroy, Agni, what ever are you doing?''

Both servants froze, having not expected the butler to hear them. ''Uh...uh...you didn't see anything.'' Bard said in a surprised voice, waving his arms in front of himself like a magician.

Sebastian raised an eyebrow and sighed, turning around to get back to work '_...Weirdos._'

''What the-?'' The demon asked as a blindfold was wrapped tightly around his eyes. He could have easily seen through it, but the contract forbid it. Ciel had ordered him to go along with _anything_ the servants did, after all. ''What are you doing?''

''Please bear with me, Mr. Sebastian!'' He heard Agni say and the demon was stunned into silence when the Indian butler lifted Sebastian up into his arms like a bride.

''Off we go!'' Bard said and led Agni away. Sebastian could feel the air become colder and instantly knew that they took him to the basement.

''Release me.'' Sebastian said calmly, wanting to kill Ciel for giving him that order. He was pretty sure the boy arranged for this to happen too, the jerk.

All of a sudden Sebastian felt himself being seated and his wrists and and legs being tied to a chair. ''What is the meaning of this?'' The butler asked when the blindfold was removed. Everyone in the house was downstairs in front of him, minus Tanaka, Finny and Soma.

''Sebastian, I have told everyone the reason why you were away.'' Ciel said, stepping forward, not even trying to hide his smug smirk.

''Oh?'' The butler asked. Sebastian had told nothing to the servants about his absence. Ciel must have just made something up a little while ago.

''Yes, and they wanted to celebrate with you.'' Was all Ciel said in explanation before turning and walking upstairs.

''...Celebrate?''

All at once, all the adults in the house moved closer to him, smiling so wide that it was creepy. ''Happy 18th birthday, Sebastian!''

''...What?'' Sebastian asked, blinking. 18? That was...really young in human standards. Just exactly how gullible were these people?

''We know you went home to celebrate with your family, but we wanted to celebrate with you too, yes we did!'' Mey-rin said. She blushed and wrinkled her skirt. Sebastian was a lot younger than her, she being in her 20s. She knew now that it would never work out between them. Younger men weren't her type. Gross!

''Yea, so we called up a friend to help celebrate you becoming legal age and all that with some good and healthy_ adult fun_.'' Bard grinned.

''A friend?'' Sebastian asked, looking to the left as a suspicious figure shrouded in black appeared..

''Yep, and he said he'd do it for free, too!'' Agni said, smiling. He was glad that he could celebrate with his English friend, and he was sure Sebastian would like it. Master Ciel even recommended it.

Sebastian looked at the figure, confused, before his face turned into one of sheer horror. _'Oh dear Satan!'_

''Bassy! '' Grell said as he took off the cloak and ran to the demon, straddling the poor butler and wrapping his arms around his neck. The grim reaper was wearing tight, red leather lingerie that was way too revealing for everyone's tastes.

''Oh God!'' Sebastian said, squirming to get away, but his bonds prevented him from doing so.

''Let the lap dance begin!'' Bard said triumphantly and turned on the music,

_Outrageous~_

_When I move my body~_

_Outrageous~_

_When I'm at a party~_

_Outrageous~_

_In my sexy jeans~_

_Outrageous~_

_When I'm on the scene~_

''Oh Bassy!''

''Gah! Get away from me! Don't do that!'' Grell didn't listen and proceeded to place his heeled foot on the chair and shake his...unmentionables(what exactly did he have anyway?) in the demon's face.

''Aw, look at all the fun he's having!'' Agni, Bard and Mey-rin cooed, happy that they could celebrate this special moment with their friend as Grell ground his behind against the butler.

''I AM NOT ENJOYING THIS! STOP IT! GET OFF!''

''Happy 18th Birthday, Sebastian!''

Meanwhile, upstairs in the kitchen with the rest of the people that were underaged, Ciel laughed maniacally when he heard Sebastian's screams. That would teach the stupid demon better than to leave his side again! He sipped his tea, laughing evilly all the while.

Finny and Soma were confused by all the ruckus downstairs, but shrugged and continued their game of monopoly. ''Ciel, it's you turn.''

''Oh yes.'' Ciel said and moved his dog piece onto Boardwalk. ''Yes, now I shall have them both and create hotels! Then all your money shall be mine! MWAHAHAHAHAA!''

''Young master, I don't wanna play anymore.'' Finny whimpered, confused by his master's weirdness.

''Uh...Me neither.'' Soma said, creeped out.

''No, you shall play! Play and fall victim to me, Ciel Phantomhive! All of you are my slaves, my pawns!''

''But you already own two whole streets!''

''Bwahahahahaaaa!''

''Ho Ho Ho.''

''Happy birthday my dear Bassy~! ''

**''IT'S NOT MY BIRTHDAY!''**


End file.
